Gardenias And Starlight Ch 02

It's not a date. I'm just heading out for some fun...just like any other night. It's not a date.

Standing in the shower and carefully running a razor along her legs, Julia repeated what had become a mantra over the last hour. It was true, after all; the message from Liv that she saw every time she closed her eyes was an invitation, and it was a clear invitation to sex. That being said, however, that was all it was. Liv's interest in her wasn't up for debate, but the evidence didn't support any assumptions beyond that. She just wanted to get Julia in bed, potentially for Marcus's sake more than her own. As Julia ran a hand over her legs to inspect her work, she admitted that was all the reason she really needed to accept the invitation. Liv had made it clear that she wanted to have sex with her, and Julia certainly didn't have any objections. As recently as the previous evening with her wand, she'd definitely made do with less. There was no reason to feel anything but excited, but a strange and undefined feeling somewhere in the back of her mind kept trying to make its presence known every time she repeated the verifiable facts of the situation to herself. Growing frustrated, Julia turned the water off and stepped out of the shower.

Then again...she did say that I'm cute.

Dismissing the sudden warmth that sprang up where the nagging thought had been a moment earlier as the result of yet another errant thought, Julia redoubled her efforts to remain focused as she grabbed a towel and began patting her skin dry. The night ahead was only different in that she had specific plans with a specific person. Everything else was the same, including the fact that she was leaving home with intent. In a previous life, her every action in a day's time passed through a filter made of public perception and a need for acceptance. Despite her efforts to put that behind her, it manifested itself in the present as pretense. She always told herself that there was nothing unusual about looking one's best before going out for the evening, but the truth was that she knew exactly what she wanted before she made the decision to go out in search of it.

Romantic entanglement was always messy and complicated and, more often than not for Julia, impermanent. Keeping her grasp on someone's affection was like trying to hold smoke in her hands. That there was no way to hold onto that affection for long was of little consequence, however, if there was always more waiting to be found. When she left her apartment for the evening, she was a huntress in search of game to stalk; the care she put into her presentation was her lure, and the promise of her body was her spear. When she was pinned beneath someone who desperately thrusted into her, she captured him at the same time he captured her, each claiming the other as their prizes. The barely whispered words of satisfaction and sensation of a condom's swelling inside of her were the spoils of her hunt, destined to fade as the hours passed and her thoughts turned to the next evening's hunt. They were sustenance, and survival was a matter of succeeding on each hunt.

Content that she was sufficiently dry, Julia used her towel to wipe steam from the surface of the bathroom mirror. She was about to start wrapping her towel around her body when she saw herself in the mirror. Her eyes followed the curves of her body, scrutinizing details as she fell back into her habit of attempting to predict how she would be perceived by the next target of her affection. She let the towel drop into the sink as she turned the majority of her attention to her hair and grabbed a dryer, but her eyes kept sweeping over her reflection in the mirror. As always, she couldn't feel anything in particular from what she was seeing. It was nothing more or less than what she expected to see, as though she was looking at a picture in a medical journal or book on anatomy. It was a constant source of frustration that she couldn't understand what anyone saw in her that drove them to choose her over any other available option, and she'd thought more than once that she'd gladly have paid handsomely for a list of requests. She'd rarely had anyone comment on anything specific about her appearance, typically at most giving compliments on the overall effect. She never questioned it. It stood to reason as what they really cared about was given by answering unspoken questions rather than outward appearances.

Yes, I suck dick. Yes, I swallow. Yes, I like anal. Yes, I want to have sex with you. Yes, I'm into girls, too. Yes, I'll go home with you and your boyfriend.

As the last of Julia's practiced replies to the questions it often took half the night for someone to work up the courage to ask played through her mind, the last of them jabbed her heart and caused her to stop in the middle of fluffing her hair under the heat flowing from the dryer in her hand. It was a stark reminder of the vague thought harassing her from the edges of her mind and threatening to become more clear. Julia pushed the thought aside by returning to her mantra, reminding herself that there was nothing more to the evening than what she'd no doubt have spent it doing, anyway. The only thing that was different was that there were plans in place involving someone in particular this time. It was exciting but, in the end, it meant nothing. That Liv was bringing her as a present for her boyfriend was of no consequence. Forcing herself to return her attention to what she was doing, Julia pulled the dryer from her hair, breathing a sigh of relief as she realized that she'd returned to her senses just before it started to singe.

Ignoring the fear of intrusive thoughts led to filling the empty spaces between thoughts with the tasks ahead. Fortunately, there was plenty to do; now clean and dry, it was time to begin preparing the lure. Standing in her bedroom in front of her open closet, Julia's eyes swept over her various options one last time before she reached out for the black silk dress that she'd settled on before heading to the shower. Its low cut neckline and hemline stopping in the middle of her thighs made her think of the dress worn by the dark-haired woman in the picture Liv had sent her, only better. The bright red of that woman's dress certainly drew the eye, but it felt as if it was trying too hard to do its job, as if covering up a deficiency elsewhere. Black, on the other hand, was classic and elegant, but it subtly drew the eye to the body underneath rather than putting it on display.

Sliding the dress over her head and then looking at herself in the full length mirror on the closet door, Julia felt a sense of relief. Her assumptions about the effect of the dress were confirmed in an instant. The deep neckline called attention to her breasts at the same time it lifted them. The hemline fell to the middle of her thigh, the form-fitting cut bringing attention to her hips and her legs which, as she stared at her reflection, she noticed for the first time in a while were rather long. She smiled as she thought of Liv, petite and several inches shorter, and wondered if she would notice, as well. With some effort, Julia tore her thoughts away from Liv with the reminder that this wasn't a date and turned her attention back to her dress under the pretense that her interest was unrelated. It was easy to imagine that anyone interested in what lay in wait beneath the black silk would initially focus more on the dress before their thoughts turned toward what it covered, like the outer layer of a present that had yet to be unwrapped. The promise of what was to come was her spear, after all, and she wanted her prey's attention focused on the lure instead for as long as possible before she struck.

As much as she didn't want to give any credit to the dark-haired woman that she'd somehow decided was her competition, Julia had to admit that red wasn't necessarily a bad choice. It was more that she felt that there was a better way to make use of it. When her attention turned to her makeup, she settled on a deep crimson for her lips and a matching shade for her nails. Though she had no particular interest in her natural appearance, Julia could see the appeal of dark red lips that called eyes to them as they uttered words of interest in and agreement with the desires of those hearing them. One of the few specific compliments she'd received supported this, a moment spent in the afterglow in which someone mentioned that he couldn't take his eyes off of her bright red fingernails wrapped around his shaft until it was being smeared with a similar shade as it slid past her lips. That casual mention was what caused her to start focusing on details rather than relying on shock and awe to draw interest, always attempting to predict her undetermined partners' desires instead of assuming that spreading her legs would be sufficient. It often was, but she wasn't one to risk leaving an evening spent with her wand rather than moans of another's pleasure up to chance.

After losing track of how long she'd spent agonizing over her appearance, Julia stood in front of the bathroom mirror one last time to inspect herself. No matter how much she scrutinized her mascara or checked for as much as a hair that was out of place, she could find no further improvements to make beyond reaching out for a purple perfume bottle. She lightly covered her neck and chest with a single spray of a dark and alluring fragrance, and her spirits were lifted by the thought of capturing someone's attention with the scent of raspberries and roses. Just as she was pretending to not know why she cared so much more than usual, her phone chimed to announce an incoming message. Her attention still on looking for flaws, her heart went still when she saw Liv's name on her phone's screen. With a trembling hand, she opened the message and, without realizing it, held her breath as she read it.

Hey there, cutie. Heading out with Marcus now. He wants to go to some shitty bar across town, so it might take us a while to get there. I'm pretty sure I can get him back on track, though. See you there...and you'll see these there.

Before Julia could finish wondering what Liv meant, an image popped up on her phone. It was a close shot of someone wearing a sweater dress--this one a pale pink--lifting the dress to expose her bare breasts as her biceps pressed them together. When the initial shock began to fade, Julia laughed in spite of the nerves that had yet to calm. Just as earlier in the day, Liv was playful to the point of being cute even while doing something so erotic. Before she realized what she was doing, Julia was turning around to sit on the bathroom sink as she lifted her dress. When she felt satisfied that the sink had sufficiently lifted her ass, she took a quick picture of the lacy and backless crimson panties that matched her lips and nails. Pushing aside her better judgment, she sent the picture to Liv with a hastily typed caption.

Nice. Hopefully I've got something to make it worth your while.

Chuckling nervously as the reality of what she'd just done began to set in, Julia didn't have to suffer long before her message received a response.

Fuck Marcus. If he doesn't get his shit together, I'm coming for that on my own. Save me a piece, will you?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Julia was vaguely aware of an urge to consider the consequences of her actions. She wasted no time in shunting it to one side as she pulled her dress down and flew into sending a response.

Don't worry. You get first dibs on it tonight.

It was close to an hour later that Julia's driver came to a stop in front of the club where she'd met Liv the night before. The entire time had passed in a blur, her thoughts fixated on how far out of character she'd acted before leaving her apartment. It was one thing to be accommodating in the privacy of an apartment or hotel room, but it was something else entirely to play along with sending lewd pictures of herself to someone she still didn't actually know. She'd blamed everything from the infectious nature of Liv's charm to simply wanting to match her energy, but arriving at the club forced her to dispense with pretense in spite of her habits. Her eyes quickly scanned the interior as she stepped through the front doors, and her heart dropped when she didn't see short blonde hair or a pink sweater dress anywhere in the crowd.

Pushed forward by desperation more than curiosity, Julia's eyes swept the interior of the club again as the doors closed behind her. Making her way down the three steps from the doorway to the dance floor, her eyes pierced the thin wisps of smoke that were still hours away from building to the thick haze she'd come to associate with the place. The several dozen bodies she could see were what she expected of early arrivals. Standing in stark contrast to the calm of those who would later have enough liquor in their systems to view the realization of their desires as inevitable, there was a pervasive air of tension surrounding those eager enough to already be present.

There weren't enough yet in attendance to come even halfway to filling the room to capacity, but their energy seemed to be trying to fill in the empty spaces. Those not sitting at tables and nervously fidgeting while waiting to excitedly glance at the doors every time they opened were on the dance floor that looked all but deserted, moving frantically to the rhythm of the bass-heavy beats that echoed off of the walls that felt cavernous without enough bodies to absorb the sound. It couldn't have been more apparent that they were all trying to ignore the obvious, merely passing the time until their worries could be eased by the promise of company. The desperation that hung in the air and seemed to stifle even the sound of the music, reminding Julia of why she never arrived early. With few to lust after and no alcohol in her blood to distract her, everything around her was a reminder of the fears she'd come there to suppress when it was so clear that everyone around her shared them.

As she made her way to the bar, it became impossible for Julia to avoid admitting that the slowly growing want was something alien to her. With fear and confusion wrestling for control of her thoughts, Julia took a seat and settled in to wait for Liv and Marcus to arrive. She couldn't control the swirling torrent of emotions within her but, with another glance at her phone showing no new notifications, a simple request to the bartender was all it took to start diluting it. Amber splashed against ice and soothed her mind at the same time it burned her throat, creating enough space in her mind for anything beyond fighting for control of her own thoughts. It was the closest she ever came to clarity, and she didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity. Testing the waters, she again glanced at her phone and saw nothing of note. She unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief; the jab to her heart came right on time, but the fog slowly creeping over her conscious thoughts cushioned the blow significantly.

One order became two, and singles became doubles. The freedom from the pain of fear and doubt that came as a result of each indulgence led to a craving for another that could not be resisted. Before she'd realized what was happening, habit had led Julia to an evening of bliss by way of a formula built and perfected over years of practice. There was no need to think about what to do to distance herself from her unease; her body moved her along the path to serenity through little more than muscle memory. Her practiced routine led her to follow a familiar pattern; she finished a drink, then made her way to the dance floor. Her hips moved with no more guidance than the bass-heavy beat that pulsed through the air and soaked into her skin, and it was only a matter of time before another body found hers.

The sun had long since faded from view, and the evening had progressed to the point of beginning to dispense with societal conventions and the pretense they inspired. Hands found Julia's hips, curves both firm and yielding found her own and, as always, there was a sense of comfort found in not knowing who owned any of them. Every time she found herself grinding her ass against someone, she found a willing partner who eased the burden on her heart for the length of a song. She smiled when a curious thought manifested itself in the sea of amber liquor drowning her mind and she realized that, no matter how many times she reached out in desperation for the nearest touch, she was never rejected. Perhaps it was the same overwhelming need she was feeling herself that made them willing, but she couldn't bring herself to feel anything but gratitude for the circumstance.

When a precocious hand cupped one of her breasts or slid beneath her dress only to be stopped by her panties and a fear of consequences in the space created by the interruption of its intentions, Julia couldn't help smiling. She giggled at the thought that she'd been able to give back in momentary thrills as much as she'd taken in emotional comfort. Every touch that graced her sent a tingling sensation through her skin even stronger than the last drink she'd ordered, and an errant thought made her glad that she'd decided on a dress that allowed her to dispense with wearing a bra as one in particular brushed a nipple that was already fully erect. The sensation from the casual brushing rippled through her entire body, bringing back memories of the previous evening and the frustration that had come of having one more layer between her and Marcus's touch.

ulia couldn't stop the memory before it could do its damage. Initially, it was as thrilling as any touch she'd received while she was on the dance floor. As the song ended and the memory continued, however, it became a stark reminder of just how long she'd been waiting to see Liv and Marcus arrive. In spite of instinct's screaming at her to avert her attention, she again glanced at her phone. Noting the time in spite of her better judgment, she realized that she'd been waiting for nearly an hour with no sign of either of them. The icy grip on her heart slowly enclosed it in its grasp again and, even in the haze of amber liquor, she could not distract herself from the only logical assumption: She'd been stood up. It wasn't until that moment that she realized just how much hope she'd placed in the plans that she'd been trying all evening to convince herself were of no true significance, and the weight of her miscalculations crushed her. Eyes darting around the room in a panic, she didn't even understand what she was looking for until her eyes fell on it.

As her eyes swept the room, they fell on another pair that were looking back at her. As she took him in, she didn't immediately see anything worthy of note. As with most, he was dressed well, an expensive-looking suit covering a man whose confidence was at odds with the image that his covering was attempting to project. As their eyes met, his seemed to avoid her gaze, instinctively going to the floor and only occasionally looking up again. Every time he saw that Julia was still looking at him, he would immediately take a suspicious interest in anything in the room other than her.

With a vague thought wondering if his was one of the many touches she'd received on the dance floor, Julia smiled as she stood from the bar stool. Walking away from the drink she'd just finished, she walked against the current of the crowd following the sound of a new song back to the dance floor. She wondered what he was thinking as she drew closer and he became increasingly agitated, but her curiosity withered in the face of her own thoughts. Even the amused reactions from those around him as he fidgeted began to grow quiet as her destination became clear. Their expressions that faded from humored to curious and then shocked as she continued to approach, but she had little energy to spare for them. She could only clearly focus on her own thoughts as she came to a stop in front of her target. Without a word, she smiled and took his hand before gently pulling him from his chair.