Reboot Pt. 02

Jenna talked Sumita through each sketch, explaining her thoughts and her goals. Sumita said nothing beyond the polite 'okays' and 'uh-huhs' that told Jenna she was listening. After the sketches, Jenna pulled the cover off the canvas, and Sumita took a step back to take the whole thing in. Jenna described her technique to Sumita, how she layered the different colors and textures to produce the dreamlike forest scene. Sumita stared at the canvas well after Jenna stopped speaking, delighting in every little detail she noticed.

"You know," Jenna said when the silence got uncomfortable, "tonight was very nice. You really didn't have to do that for me."

"I wanted to," Sumita replied. "And don't tell me you didn't have a good time."

"I did," Jenna agreed. "It's just ... lesbians don't usually do the old-fashioned courtship thing, at least not the ones I know. It's a little too rooted in traditional gender roles, which we're not big on."

"Sarah did, with Meaghan," Sumita replied, "I've heard the whole story a few times, and I think it's beautiful. Though I guess Sarah was new at this whole lesbian thing, just like I am with you. Anyway, I'm not interested what lesbians usually do. I'm interested in what works for us. Did you like it when I took you out for a nice dinner?"

"Yes," Jenna admitted.

"And would you like me to do it again, when I have a mind to?" Sumita asked.

"Yes," Jenna said.

"Good," Sumita replied. "Then I don't see the problem."

"No problem," Jenna said, feeling like a six-year-old child. "Do you want to go back upstairs and see the rest of the house?"

"Sure," Sumita said, and they climbed back upstairs. Jenna gave Sumita a tour of the main floor of the house, and then they walked up to Jenna's attic bedroom. It was neat and tidy, especially compared to the chaos of the basement studio, with just one sketch and two small paintings on the walls, none of them by Jenna.

Sumita wrapped her arms around Jenna's waist, pulled her in close, and kissed her deeply. Jenna let out a deep sigh and fell into the kiss. She had spent the whole week wanting Sumita, wanting to hold her and taste her and make love to her. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to happen.

"I'd really like to ask you to stay over," she said, "but my bedroom is right above Brendan's, so ..."

Sumita giggled. "No, it's okay," she said. "I get it. I'd ask you to stay at my place, but I'm not sure I could handle facing Gita in the morning. Again."

It was Jenna's turn to giggle. "I thought you told me she worked the night shift at the hospital," she said.

"She did," Sumita replied, "until this week. Now she's back on a regular day schedule until she starts at UW. Talk about bad timing."

The two collapsed onto Jenna's bed and lay there together a while, periodically erupting back into giggles. After a while, Sumita took a deep breath and sat up.

"It's getting late," she said. "Since I'm not staying, I should probably go."

Jenna breathed an exaggerated sigh of disappointment, and then sat up next to Sumita. "I'll walk you out," she said, and then leaned in for a kiss. Twenty minutes later, they finally made it downstairs, and Jenna walked Sumita to her car in the driveway.

"Can we do something tomorrow?" Jenna asked. "Go for a hike, see a movie?"

"Sure," Sumita replied. "Maybe meet for lunch tomorrow, and then go for a walk by the bay, in that park you took me to."

"Sounds good. Call me in the morning," Jenna said. "I'll be up early. Occupational hazard."

Sumita smiled a big, happy smile at Jenna, kissed her soundly, and then got into her car.

"Okay, I'll call you," she said, and then drove off.

When Jenna walked back into the house, she found Rose waiting for her by the door with a curious look on her face.

"What?" Jenna asked. Rose just smiled.

Jenna punched her sister in the arm, said, "Shut up," and went upstairs to bed.

~~~

Jenna spent Saturday with Sumita, and then Sunday and the next weekend. They cooked together and they hiked together. They went to the Seattle Art Museum, where Jenna showed Sumita her favorite pieces and went on about why she loved them. Not for the first time, Sumita had a fantasy of dragging Jenna to London, to take her to the Tate Gallery as her own personal tour guide.

Jenna and Rose did have to work on the big dinner party job, Wednesday of the next week, which kept Jenna busy Monday and Tuesday as well. The result was a smashing success, which would mean repeat business and, hopefully, referrals as well. Sumita took Jenna out for another expensive, romantic, date-night sort of dinner the next night to celebrate, at an Indian-American fusion restaurant on Capitol Hill, not far from Jenna's old apartment. The rest of the time, they squeezed in casual weeknight dinners around their busy, divergent schedules whenever they could, which wasn't often.

What they didn't do was spend the night together. Jenna's bedroom was obviously out, and both Jenna and Sumita felt a little too weird about having Gita in the house if Jenna stayed over with Sumita. After two weeks of kissing and hugging and holding hands, and nothing else, they were both ready to burst. Jenna had to masturbate in her bedroom at night more in those two weeks than she had in the previous two months. She could only imagine what Sumita did when she got home at night, but then imagining it only got her own engine going again.

It was a great relief to them both when Gita moved into her dorm room at UW on the last Sunday in September.

~~~

Gita drove her little gray Audi, and Sumita and Jenna followed in Sumita's larger sedan. Gita wasn't taking much with her to school - there's not a lot of space in a dorm room - but, even so, her stuff didn't all fit in her car. The Audi had been Rajeev's, and practicality wasn't exactly his goal when he bought it. He just wanted something fun to drive. At the time, Sumita had called it his mid-life crisis, minus the crisis. That it also turned out to be far from mid-life was something she tried to ignore.

After Gita registered at the dorm and picked up her key, the three of them hauled Gita's stuff up to the room, managing everything but the Ikea floor lamp and the large computer monitor on the first trip. Gita's roommate Dina was already there, unpacking her clothes. Dina and Gita had been friends since the seventh grade, and Sumita knew her well.

"You two look out for each other," Sumita told the girls once they'd gotten settled, gave them each a quick hug, and then walked out of the building, holding onto Jenna's hand like a life preserver in a storm.

"Wow," Jenna told Sumita when they got back to the car. "You handled that amazingly well. I know it must have been tough for you - the blood hasn't flowed back into my hand yet." She put her other hand to Sumita's cheek.

"I didn't want it to be a big deal, and I didn't want to cry, you know?" Sumita said. "So I left before I could."

With that, the dam burst and the tears flowed freely. "My baby's all grown up," Sumita said.

"I know, babe," Jenna said, "and you've done an amazing job raising her. She's a remarkable young woman."

Jenna pulled Sumita to her and wrapped her arms around Sumita's shoulders. Sumita buried her face in Jenna's chest, letting the tears flow until they ran dry. "It's okay, Sumi," Jenna whispered. "You're a wonderful mom, and your daughter still needs you. She's going to for a while yet."

Eventually, Sumita pulled back and looked Jenna in the face, wiping her cheek with the back of her wrist. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was stuffy, but her face cracked into a smile. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for being here for me today." Jenna kissed her forehead.

I called her 'babe', Jenna thought to herself in the car on the way back to Sumita's house. I've never called anybody 'babe' before.

~~~

Alone at last.

"So, um, what do you want to do?" Jenna asked after they got back to Sumita's house. Her heart was racing and her legs were a little wobbly. The thought of going to bed with Sumita was making her crazy. She hadn't felt so ... naughty since the last time she spent the night at Susie Parker's house in high school, when her parents were away for the weekend.

But was she getting ahead of herself? She'd only slept with Sumita the one time, or maybe twice if you counted the next morning. Maybe Sumita wasn't interested. "We could, you know, go for a walk or something," she said.

"I want to spend the afternoon in bed with you," Sumita replied, "and I don't want to leave the house until you have to go home. It's been two weeks, and I've been dying to make love to you."

"Oh, good," Jenna replied, letting a little of her lust creep into her voice. "I thought maybe it was just me."

"Nope," Sumita replied, and then she pulled Jenna into an embrace and kissed her on the lips. Jenna soon found her shirt untucked from her jeans and Sumita's hands running up her sides.

Jenna broke their kiss long enough to lift Sumita's UW sweatshirt up over her head. This time she managed to unhook Sumita's bra, and Sumita's grin got wider as it slid off and dropped to the floor. She felt Sumita's fingers fumbling with the buttons on her shirt, and then it was off, flung over the back of the couch, and Sumita hardening nipples were pressing into Jenna's chest, just above the bottom of her sports bra. That came off soon too, and they were holding each other, skin to skin.

"Bedroom?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah, that's probably better," Sumita replied. "I'd let you take me right here, on the living room couch, but I'm not feeling much control right now, and I don't want to fall off."

Jenna giggled, burying her nose in Sumita's hair and kissing the top of her ear. "Bedroom," she whispered, and took Sumita by the hand and led her to the bedroom door.

Once inside, they both took the time to pull off their shoes/boots and then peel down their jeans and panties. Jenna knew better than to repeat the mistake she made their first night together, when she got her jeans tangled up in her boots and Sumita had to undress her. Not that being undressed by Sumita was in any way a bad thing...

A firm kiss on the lips brought Jenna out of her momentary distraction, and then Sumita pulled her into bed. They landed side by side, lips still locked together. Hands and bodies were everywhere, each trying to both gain and allow the best access to the other. Jenna's left hand ended up right between Sumita's legs, sliding against slick, wet skin. Sumita had somehow managed to reach around her lover, and Jenna felt two long, strong fingers stroking her pussy from behind.

It was an awkward position, not the most comfortable, but it worked. Jenna rubbed and stroked as best she could, and when the tip of her finger found Sumita's clit, she heard a cry. Sumita's position allowed for a little more control, and Jenna felt a finger or two slide inside her from time to time. After what must have been only a few minutes, Jenna felt Sumita's body tensing, and her own orgasm was not far behind. They came one after the other, in short, sharp spasms of pleasure that overlapped each other. Jenna's first simultaneous orgasm, or close enough.

They untangled themselves and lay side by side for a while to catch their breath, holding hands but not otherwise touching. Both bodies were coated with a thin layer of sweat.

"Wow," Sumita said. "You must have needed that just as much as I did."

"Yeah, I guess I did," Jenna replied. "I didn't realize how wound up I was until we got to the house and my knees were shaking."

"I've been desperate for this ever since our cooking weekend together," Sumita said. "I keep having these thoughts about you at the most inappropriate times, like in my stupid status meeting at work. I get all flustered and I feel like everybody's staring at me, but of course they aren't."

"You've never had sexy daydreams before?" Jenna asked.

"Never," Sumita replied. "I guess having the first real, natural sex of your life changes something in you."

"Oh, Sumi," Jenna said, and she felt an ache in her chest for all the years Sumita missed out on.

"It's okay, Jenna," Sumita said. "Really. I made a choice, and I don't regret it at all. But I don't want to talk about the past. I want to focus on those sexy thoughts you put in my head."

"And what do you do with those thoughts?" Jenna asked, happy to change the subject.

"During the day, nothing," Sumita said, her voice growing husky, "but in bed at night..."

"What do you do in bed at night, Sumi?" Jenna asked. She was looking straight at Sumita, ice blue eyes locked to dark brown, and her voice was a low purr.

"I think about you," Sumita replied, "and I touch myself."

Jenna nearly exploded. She had never heard anything so hot in her life. She didn't know what was more amazing, that Sumita was openly telling her about masturbating, or that she was the object of Sumita's fantasy.

"And what, exactly, do you think about?" Jenna asked, her face burning. "Be very specific."

"Well," Sumita said, closing her eyes and swallowing nervously, "it usually starts with you kissing my fingers, or tickling my ear, or nuzzling my neck."

Jenna did all those things, slowly and sensuously. Sumita responded with happy little sighs, and when Jenna kissed the hollow of her throat, the sighs turned into moans.

"What next?" Jenna asked.

"My nipple," Sumita replied, her voice almost a whisper. "I love what you do to my breasts."

Jenna obliged, using every trick of mouth and tongue on Sumita's hard, sensitive nipples, first right then left then right again. Sumita wiggled and whimpered under Jenna's touch, and Jenna felt herself getting wetter between her legs. She was enjoying this game at least as much as Sumita, and Sumita was nearly delirious with pleasure.

"And then?" Jenna purred into Sumita's ear.

Sumita didn't answer, Jenna pulled back, leaving just one hand on Sumita's body.

"Tell me what you think of when you're about to come," Jenna said.

Sumita's eyes opened with a brief look of panic. "Your mouth," she said, barely able to speak coherently, "I need your mouth, and your fingers."

A broad grin spread across Jenna's face. "You're amazing, Sumi," she whispered. "So sexy."

Then she scooted down in the bed and planted her face right between Sumita's legs, licking and kissing and sucking. Her fingers followed, sliding in and out while her tongue flicked across Sumita's very sensitive clit.

Sumita came in a sudden, unexpected rush. Jenna didn't even feel it building; she just felt her head trapped between Sumita's thighs while Sumita's body went rigid. She waited it out, not touching anywhere sensitive until Sumita relaxed and let her go. Once free, Jenna snuggled up beside Sumita.

"You okay?" Sumita asked after a while. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine," Jenna replied. "What about you? You look wiped out."

"I'll be okay in a minute," Sumita said, with some mischief slipping into her voice, "and then it's my turn."

"Oh, no," Jenna said, laughing. "That was my game. Get your own."

"Okay, then," Sumita said, and then laid back in the bed for a while gathering her strength. "I don't just have fantasies about me, you know. Sometimes I think about what I can do for you, or to you. There's this one where I walk up behind you and put my arms around you, and then..."

Sumita continued to narrate the story, detail by little detail, and she demonstrated each and every one on Jenna's willing body. Jenna came twice before Sumita even finished her narration.

~~~

The month of October flew by in a happy blur of fallen leaves and receding dawns. Jenna and Sumita were in that place where everything is still new and exciting, and the heavy decisions of the future still look far away.

During the week, they lived their separate lives, meeting for dinner in the evenings when they could. Sumita always paid, whether it was Taco Time or fancy and expensive. Jenna felt bad about it for a while, letting it nag at her until she said something one night.

"You can pay, if it bothers you," Sumita replied with a shrug. "I make enough money that I can take my girlfriend out to dinner whenever I want without having to think about it. That makes me happy. I don't think you can say the same thing."

"No, I guess not," Jenna said, and then she forgot all about it. "Did you just call me your girlfriend?"

Sumita blushed. "Yes," she said, leaning in to kiss Jenna's cheek. "Yes, I believe I did."

The weekends, though, were spent together. Jenna stayed over at Sumita's house every Friday and Saturday except Halloween, when she and Rose catered three different parties. They found plenty of things to do together - more hiking, more cooking (followed by more eating), the occasional trip to a museum or a movie - and they also spent plenty of time at home, reading or talking or just being. Thursdays at work were long and painful for Jenna, and Fridays were excruciating.

Also, they had sex. Lots and lots of sex. They dove naked into bed at night and fucked each other until they got tired and fell asleep; they explored each other's bodies when they woke up together in the morning; they made love on the living room couch in the middle of a lazy afternoon just because they could. It was wild, joyful, unrestrained, sexy, silly, sloppy, and generally wonderful. Jenna was making up for eight years of infrequent, uninspiring sex, and Sumita was making up for a lifetime of suppressing who she really was.

After their first weekend together, which ran entirely on raw passion, Sumita made a great effort to understand Jenna's body and to improve her own technique. She approached the project like an engineer, even doing A/B testing. "Do you like this better?" she would ask, "or this?" Jenna's response was usually measured by the volume of her moan.

Even more than the effort, Jenna appreciated Sumita's willingness to try anything. Sumita had no hang-ups. She had likes and dislikes, same as anybody, but no shame. "Being a lesbian married to a man," Sumita explained, "you kind of have to learn to be okay with your body and your desires, or you'll go mad."

The one thing Sumita would not do was let Jenna fuck her with a strap-on.

"No, unh-huh, no-way," she said when Jenna suggested it. "I lived with Rajeev for almost twenty years, and every time he put his ... thing inside me, I had to make it okay. I could do that, enjoy it even, because I loved him, but it always felt wrong unless I worked at it, convinced myself it was right. I don't want to work at it with you, not when everything else is so natural."

"That's okay, babe," Jenna replied, with only a trace of disappointment. "There are plenty of other things we can do together..." She wanted to say something else, but she never got the chance. Sumita's lips closed around her nipple, and they were lying back in bed again, harness and fake cock forgotten on the floor.

The weekends always ended, though, and Jenna went back home, to spend her weeknights in her tiny attic bedroom.

~~~

Brrrrrrzzzzzaaaattttt!

Jenna woke in the middle of the night to a loud wail.

Brrrrrrzzzzzaaaattttt!

As a joke, her friend Kate had set her ringtone to a ship's claxon. Usually, Jenna found it amusing. Now, she just wanted it to go away.

Brrrrrrzzzzzaaaattttt!

Jenna picked up the offending device and focused her eyes just enough make out the screen. Just a number, so not on her contact list. 425, maybe, although it was blurry. East side. Whoever this was, it had to be important to call at this hour.

Brrrrrrzzzzzaaaattttt!

Jenna pressed the answer button and held the phone to her face.

"Hello?" she said, her voice hoarse with sleep.