Can't Stop the Girl

"It's a date," Annie said with her best flirtatious grin.

Paula was a cheap date, as Annie discovered halfway into their second beer just after work. "I knew you were a lipstick lesbian!" Paula gushed in the safety of their booth. "Just knew it, the first time I saw you. Believe me, I can always tell. I never miss!"

"Then why didn't you ever ask me out?" Annie could scarcely believe she was having this conversation.

"I don't date in the office."

"Oh, good. Then this is just a little fun for us both." Annie could only hope for as much!

"I didn't say that!" Paula snapped, clutching Annie's hand. "I adore you, Annie. Always have. I don't date in the office, but I always said I'd make an exception for you. But I'll tell you one thing."

"What's that?"

"If Father Logan doesn't approve of you, then we'll just have to call it quits. It'll break my heart, but it's got to be, okay?"

"I understand." Annie did her best to look pensive, and somehow she was certain she'd failed.

"But otherwise, my dear, your tits are mine!"

"Here's hoping, Paula." Annie raised her bottle and clinked Paula's, thinking it was just as well if she felt a little tipsy for the next couple of hours.

Paula was at least smart enough not to try to drive to the community center after three beers, so they walked. It was a clear, cold night and a fairly long walk, marked by Paula's endless teasing about how frigid Annie must be in her skirt, which she was. Naturally after all those beers, she was also desperate for the ladies' by the time they arrived, and Paula's hamhanded flirting didn't even stop then. "Can't wait to see where all that's coming from!" she called from the next stall as they were both peeing.

"Want to come over and wipe me?" Annie teased back, glad Paula couldn't see the disgust on her face.

"You wish!" Paula laughed, to Annie's relief -- she wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if she had taken her up on the offer, she now realized.

Father Logan's "church" was a bare-bones conference room, decorated only with a crucifix to one side and nails on the wall where the last tenant's pictures had hung. There was no sign of the Christmas season anywhere, least of all on the dour faces of the handful of other attendees who were already there. Twenty chairs were lined up with military precision before the pulpit, of which only five were occupied when Paula came in with Annie on her arm. "Everyone, this is Annie. Annie, everyone!" she exclaimed, making no effort to hide that she was drunk. Annie sensed her fellow parishioners weren't at all surprised.

To her immense relief, even through the beery fog, she didn't recognize any of them. All older, all white but for one middle-aged black woman, who was the only one who smiled at Annie and Paula. "Welcome, Annie," she said. "I'm Marla."

"Hi, Marla," Annie said. "So is Father Logan joining us tonight?" She half-hoped he wouldn't. As she plopped down beside Paula, her eyes fixated immediately on a closed door behind the pulpit. A walk-in closet like the one in the committee room, she reasoned - the perfect hiding place for the toys.

"Of course he is," Marla said. "You're in for a treat for your first time, my dear."

Annie nodded at her, and turned her gaze back to the mysterious door. There had to be a way to get a look in there...and then her heart leapt as it opened.

Father Logan looked perfectly normal in his priest's frock and neatly trimmed moustache, almost disappointing to Annie. But most of her attention was focused on trying to get a glimpse into the closet behind him as he snapped off the light switch and stepped out. She got only a glimpse at a shelf with some boxes on it, but they did not look as colorful as boxes of toys likely would. But that only meant that part of the big closet was in the clear.

"We have a newcomer," he said in a maddeningly polite voice, his eyes locked on Annie.

"Father, this is Annie," Paula said. "She works with me."

"Good, good," Father Logan said. "What brings you to our flock, sweetheart?"

"I've heard so many things about your spiritual nourishment from Paula," Annie said, noticing that Paula had hastily wrenched her hand away from hers. "Christmas has gotten so big and crazy, you know?"

"A wise choice, young lady," Father Logan said. "Speaking of which," he declared to the entire room, seeming to pretend it was packed to the gills, "I come bearing wonderful news! Perhaps you've all heard of the Christmas Pageant Committee?"

The other few, including Paula, grumbled their affirmation that they'd heard of it. Annie feigned ignorance.

"The Christmas Pageant Committee," Father Logan said gravely, now looking only at Annie, "is a bunch of wild-eyed liberals preaching heresy under the guise of tolerance. They bought a truckload of toys and were planning to bus disadvantaged children -- and you know who that really means -- in from the city to give them to. In our backyard!" he thundered, his voice bouncing off every wall of the little room. "But I have heard good news this weekend. The toys have gone missing. The heretics got exactly what they deserved for their do-gooding!"

The others all cheered long and loud, and Annie forced herself to join in.

"So one bunch of hypersensitive pseudo-Christians won't be able to perpetuate the commercialization of our Lord Jesus Christ this year!" he continued, drawing louder cheers still.

"Who's the hero of the hour?" asked Marla when the applause had finally died down.

"You don't need to know that," Father Logan said. "A true hero doesn't ask for recognition, in any event. So join me in singing out our praises to the great whomever!"

The sermon only grew more hateful and outrageous from there, but Annie didn't care. The man had as good as confessed! All she needed was a peek in that closet...but she couldn't think yet how to get one. She had the better part of an hour to think about it.

When Father Logan had finished at last, Annie thought for a moment that she'd get her chance. As the tiny congregation gathered around the water boiler at the back of the room for tea, Marla asked Father Logan for a word -- to Annie's relief, before he'd had a chance to try to shake her hand. "Certainly," he said, and he took Marla's hand and guided her out into the hallway -- not into his lair, Annie noticed.

"So, what do you think?" Paula asked her. "Isn't he incredible?"

"He certainly is," Annie said, glad Paula had chosen a question that didn't make her specify that he was incredible in a good way. She wasn't at all sure she could fake it much longer. "Say, Paula, just what's he got in that closet back there? I noticed he came out of there."

"Oh, that's his private office, I guess," Paula said. "He always comes out of there for his sermons, and never lets anyone else near it, except Marla once. I saw them both coming out once when I got to the service early."

"So much for vows of celibacy," Annie couldn't resist saying.

"Hey, it's none of my business," Paula said, shrugging her shoulders. "Just as long as he keeps his paws off me. Speaking of which, Annie, have you ever been with a man?"

Annie was saved from having to answer when Father Logan stepped back into the room. "Excuse me," he said, "But I need a word alone with Annie and Paula, if you don't mind."

"Of course not, Father," said one of the older men, and they all filed out of the room. For the first time since her escape from Doctor Stone's office, Annie was a little scared. But she smiled through her fear at the one man in Park Meadows she hated even more than the good doctor right now.

"Paula," Father Logan said, "How well do you know Annie?"

"Not well enough," Paula said, daring to put her hand on Annie's shoulder. "That's why I'm glad she's come tonight."

"Yes, well, I'm afraid that's the problem," Father Logan said. Turning to Annie, he said, "Young lady, a member of my congregation has grave doubts about you. I won't tell you who or why, but I'm afraid I have to ask you never to come back here."

"Oh, gosh, Father, I can't imagine what I've done wrong," Annie said, barely able to suppress a smile. "And it was such a powerful sermon..."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, but this community is not for you, I'm afraid." Turning to Paula, he said, "And I must also ask you to choose other friends at work, my dear."

"Yes, Father," Paula said. Annie found she wasn't even surprised at Paula's attitude.

"Yes, well, I'm not completely heartless, girls," Father Logan said. "I'll give you a few minutes to say your goodbyes, okay?" Without another word, he turned and left them alone in the room.

Paula burst into tears. "Annie, I'm sorry!" she said. "But if he says so..."

"I understand," Annie said, privately delighted, for a brilliant idea had just come to her. "But tell me, Paula, wouldn't you like to stick it to the man? Without him knowing?"

"Father Logan?!" Paula exclaimed. "I couldn't!"

"You could if he didn't know," Annie said. With a come-hither look, she strolled over to the closet door. "What say you to christening his lair?"

"You're kidding!" Paula's tears had stopped, and she was eyeing Annie like a piece of meat.

"He doesn't need to know," Annie said.

But Paula stood her ground. "I want to, Annie, desperately, but I just can't! Not Father Logan's private room. I told you he's homophobic, didn't I?"

"Yes, and if he should happen to learn about you..." Annie grasped the doorknob and turned it slowly. "I mean, he's already kicked me out."

"You bitch," Paula muttered. "But if it's our only chance..."

"You know you want me," Annie needled. "And you did say we couldn't even be friends without his permission." With her free hand she lifted her skirt all the way up, just long enough to give Paula a look at her lacy panties before dropping it back into place, and she flung the forbidden door open.

Annie was crushed to see the closet was just a closet. Big enough to hide the toys, but they weren't there. Only Father Logan's desk took up the side of the tiny room that she hadn't seen, and his street clothes were tossed haphazardly on an otherwise-empty shelf above it. Whatever the bastard's real reason for keeping everyone out except the women he was taking advantage of, the toys weren't it and Annie was back to square one.

She also had to get past Paula, who was now standing in the doorway looking expectantly at her.

"Listen, Paula," Annie said. "You're right, that was very unfair of me. If you don't want to defile Father Logan's office, I understand."

"Not so fast!" Paula slammed the closet door and grabbed Annie's blouse by both hands, and planted a hard and fast kiss on her lips.

Admitting to herself that she had led Paula on awfully hard, Annie figured at least she could mark something off her bucket list. She opened her mouth at the touch of Paula's lips and slid her arms around her. Feeling another woman's breasts up against hers was a pleasant variation at least. As she felt Paula reach under her skirt and tug her panties out of the way, Annie did her best to welcome Paula's awkward drunken caresses.

Those caresses tickled Annie more than they aroused her, and Annie couldn't help snickering a little through their kiss. Paula pulled back, but kept her hands where they were. "I'm a comedian now, am I?"

"Sorry!" Annie said. "It just...it tickles."

"Not as much as this will!" Paula dropped to her knees and wriggled Annie's panties down, and then eagerly pushed her legs apart and dove in.

"Oof!" Annie threw her head back and clutched her thighs tightly around Paula's head, and gave in to the lovely sensation. Cult member or not, Paula knew what to do with her tongue. Annie rocked her hips and ran all her fingers through Paula's hair. "God!" she gasped.

"That's who we're here for," Paula quipped.

"Don't stop!" Annie pushed Paula's head back in tightly against her, to the latter's evident delight as her licks grew even more luxurious. Annie leaned back on her palms on the edge of the desk, and ground into Paula's face, any concerns about being caught having been forgotten. She came with a yelp she couldn't hope to suppress. "Thank you!" she exhaled huskily as Paula stood up.

"I'm just sorry that'll be the only time, honey," Paula said. "But you heard what Father Logan said."

"Yes, yes of course," Annie said. "What must be must be." She looked down, bemused, as Paula retrieved her panties from the floor and helped her back on with them. She was worried that Paula might demand she return the favor, but it was only fair if she wanted.

Luckily, she apparently didn't. "We'd better get you out of here before he gets suspicious," she said, helping Annie to her feet.

"I think he probably already was suspicious," Annie said. "Two young and attractive women, a guy like that..."

"I told you he's really homophobic," Paula reminded her as she held open the door out into the empty hallway for Annie.

"Exactly," Annie said. "Guys like that always think all women love getting it on with each other."

"Geez, Annie, are you always so cynical about all religious leaders?" Paula said. "You don't think Father Logan is a rapist too, do you?"

"A rapist?!" All at once Annie felt Dr. Stone's hands groping at her again. How did Paula know about that? But she said nothing more about that -- it was none of Paula's business. They walked in silence -- relieved silence in Annie's case, but she hoped Paula believed it was stunned silence -- to the front door of the community center. "I'll find my way from here," she told Paula there, glad to be free of her.

"I know you will," Paula said. "Listen, let's just pretend at work this didn't happen, okay?"

"Oh my God, I'd never tell anyone your business!" Truer word was never spoken, Annie thought as she buttoned up her coat and stepped down to the parking lot. She thought Paula said something in return as she walked off towards the street and home, but she didn't hear or care what it was.

"You know, he never actually said he knew who the thief was," Annie said to Daryle the next night as he cradled her against the headboard of her bed and she handed the wine bottle back to him.

"Mmmmff," he mumbled through his swig of wine, stroking her vulva playfully with his free hand. "You think he's bluffing?" He started to pull his hand away as he said it.

"Oh no you don't!" Annie giggled, and she pulled his hand back into her bush. "That feels amazing, don't stop. I think he could be bluffing, but probably not. He was just a little too eager to tell them all what happened. If he had done it, he'd have been more subtle. I think. But he doesn't seem like the type who's ever subtle about anything."

"Speaking of subtle," Daryle kept up his stroking and even gave her clit a direct rub, making Annie yelp. "You and this other lady..."

Annie laughed. "How did I know you'd want to hear all about that? But...no, it was nothing special."

"Your first time with another woman?"

"Yeah, and probably the last. It was worth it to know Father Logan didn't do it, I guess." Annie followed that with a long drink of the wine, and Daryle took the opportunity to caress her left breast with his now-free hand.

"You guess?" Daryle sounded surprised.

"Ohhh, that feels great, both hands," Annie said. "Keep it up. Yeah, I guess. If he is innocent, I just feel dirty for having to have anything to do with him. And Paula even more so. She's so weird."

"But what you did to his desk..." Daryle kissed her neck and let the rest of his sentence hang in the air.

"True, true!" Annie sighed deeply and enjoyed the warm glow of her Christmas lights on them both in the otherwise-dark room. "I just hope the Baptists have some sort of lead."

"Worry about that tomorrow!" Daryle cooed in her ear, then nibbled her earlobe.

"Absolutely," Annie said, setting the wine bottle down because she didn't want him to take either of his hands off her. "Tomorrow night is their coffee klatch, no more worrying about the toys until then."

"Except me!" Daryle quipped.

"Are you a toy, Daryle?"

"I want to be yours!" He withdrew both hands and set them on her shoulders. "Turn around!"

Annie was still laughing as she straddled him and welcomed him into her pussy effortlessly. "Ohhhh!" she squealed as she settled herself on top of him.

"So Paula didn't win you over to her team," Daryle snickered.

"Not even close!" Annie kissed him hard and there were no more words as she ground hard into him. Her own intense responses as she bobbed just before him in the twinkling colored glow left no doubt about the sincerity of her answer, and her heart was fairly bursting for the young man in her bed, in her arms, in her vagina -- for all the misery he had to live with at home, here he was, sharing in her own defiant joy in spite of the terrible past few days.

All that was only in the back of her mind as she humped Daryle with delicious abandon, through two orgasms. But when her second one also brought him off and she came to rest against his chest, she burst into tears.

"Annie?!" Daryle hugged her tightly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything! I mean, this is so beautiful, and it's such a crummy world out there, and..."

"I know, Annie. But isn't that just why we should enjoy this?"

"Yes! Totally!" Pulling back a bit to admire him again, she asked, "What did you tell your mother again?"

"Spending the night at my best friend's place. I gave her his cell phone number. If she calls, he just won't tell her he's up in Michigan with his cousins."

"A man after my own heart," Annie said with a grin as she stood up to turn off the lights. "I knew that trick pretty well too back in the day."

"So it was bad with your mom, too?"

"You don't even want to know, Daryle." She got back to bed and climbed in beside him. Taking him in her arms again, she whispered, "Just know there's life outside your family, okay?"

"You've already taught me that," he said.

That comforting answer had Annie feeling part elated, part guilty as she stepped uncertainly into the Baptist meeting center just after work the next day. It wouldn't do for her to fall in love with Daryle any more than the other way around -- but was it too late?

The room was crowded and she was less than surprised to find no one greeted the newcomer. Fortunately, she only had to look around for a bit before she spotted Reggie Greene setting up coffee cups on a table. "Annie!" he said. "Hi! You're not thinking of joining us, are you?"

"Well, why else would I be here?" Annie remembered to smile broadly as she said it, and keep her face set that way until she was near the table and had something approaching privacy with him. "Truth is, Reggie, your mother said I was welcome to come say hello some time, and I figured it's about time I do."

"Glad you did, then," Reggie said. "We could use a few more friends in this place, ever since she got elected chair."

"They have a problem with that?" Annie asked.

"They have a problem with us. They're too polite to say it, most of 'em, but they do. Now with her running the Christmas committee too, couple of 'em are speaking up, you know? About how she's tryin' to take over everything from the white folks."

"That's terrible." Then Annie had to pipe down as an older couple arrived at the table to have some coffee. She helped herself to a cup of decaf and smiled cordially at the newcomers as she did.

"Milk?" asked the woman.

"No thanks," Annie said.

"Oh, you like your coffee like your friends, I see," said the man with a grin.

Annie did not return the grin. She looked at Reggie and back at the man, and back at Reggie.

"Yeah, he really said that," Reggie said. "Don't worry, I'm used to it."

"Oh, pardon me for telling a joke!" snapped the man. His wife gave them both a stern look and a nod of support for her husband, and they took their leave.