The anniversary of Bonnie's death came upon Sami very quickly, and that day, she spent it alone, walking the campus with her camera, shooting tons of film to keep herself busy, and, to keep the demons at bay.
Her insides were absolutely crawling with nervousness, sadness, lonesomeness, and aching with hurt that day. Returning to her suite, she ignored the knocks that disturbed her self-imposed solitude, not even bothering to look at the notes and crap that had been slipped through her door's mail slot.
Retrieving the bottle of Tequila that she had purchased a few days ago, Sami-girl got totally and blissfully drunk late that afternoon, her mind no longer able to deal with the sadness that she felt; and thankfully, she drank herself into a stupor, falling asleep early in the evening.
Falling asleep, or passing out; call it what you will, it brought Sami to where she needed to go.
__________________________
Nursing the worse hangover of her young life, Sami muddled through the Fourth of July holiday, immersing herself in her work at The Grille, and her modeling for Lynn. They talked of the gallery that she and Ali were almost ready to open, the three of them finding more agreement, than differences, in personal views of how a gallery should be structured.
Sami may have been arm-candy for both Nikki and Su at the art events she had attended, but Sami-girl paid attention to detail and picked up on the dos and don'ts of running galleries, listening closely, as the movers and shakers of the Art Scene in the City expressed opinions.
The off-handed and informal discussions among the three of them had served a purpose; it started Lynn and Ali thinking about Sami-girl in a different way, thinking about her as more than a hot-looking model with an incredibly sexy body that Lynn's camera liked, and liked a lot.
Late-night visits to Sami's room still continued by a few of the dorm residents, and the resulting sexual romps were one of the worse kept secrets of their dorm. By this time, Sami really didn't care what others said or thought of her behind her back; she was use to it, and it didn't bother her at all.
After all, they kept coming to her for sexual gratification, didn't they? They always came back, just like in high school. One of the newer residents, a girl named Brenda, had become the most frequent visitor to Sami's room of delights recently and she gave as good as she got, seemingly happy to kneel between Sami's legs and make love to Sami's pussy.
Brenda had approached Sami one day, outside of their dorm, and in a most frank manner, had let Sami know that she, Brenda, would love to come and visit some night to play, should Sami ever want to.
The frankness of Brenda touched a nerve inside of Sami and just as frankly, she had invited Brenda to come and visit that very night, after she got off of work. Sami had found Brenda waiting for her on the steps of her dorm after she returned from work and they walked up to Sami's room, together.
When Sami had emerged from her shower that night, she found Brenda lying on her bed, waiting and totally naked; unlike the other girls that came to Sami for some girl-love, Brenda was the one who insisted on satisfying Sami first. Most of the other girls returned Sami's loving but none, except Brenda, wanted to do Sami first.
What Sami didn't know, and wouldn't learn, was that Brenda had been servicing other girls since she was thirteen, the desire to do so inside of her since she couldn't remember when.
Her 'public' story was that she began playing with girls when she was sixteen or so, and that she had a boyfriend back home, and that she liked both guys and gals. Of course, that was a flat-out lie; she'd never had a cock, nor ever had the desire to do so.
By the time she had graduated high school, Brenda was known as a full-blown lez and Brenda flat-out didn't give a fuck who knew it, as long as she got her share of pussy.
It has been said that God doesn't slam a door in one's face without opening a window. The truthfulness of that adage revealed itself to Sami on the afternoon that The Grille had burned to the ground.
Sami, with tears streaming down her cheeks, stood with hundreds of students across the street from The Grille, watching as the fire department fought to contain the blaze and allowed the building to consume itself.
Sami's entire college life was intertwined with The Grille and she just couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. Seeing her manager Ray, just a ways from her, she and Ray hugged and cried with each other, crying at the loss of what was a fun place of work for them both.
It was later that same afternoon, when Lynn was finishing that session's shooting that both Ali and Lynn approached Sami about working for them, with them, at their new gallery. Neither Ali nor Lynn knew of the fire, yet, and their proposal to Sami was a result of the fondness both had developed for Sami over the past few weeks; indeed, it was Sami's common-sense approach to the business side of running a gallery that had impressed them both.
The three of them celebrated Sami's acceptance of their offer to work for them with dinner at Commander's Palace that evening, staying until almost closing discussing ideas and the like.
The three of them walked away that evening feeling that a different phase of their relationship had been reached, though none of them fully understood how the three of them became so simpatico with each other; they didn't understand it then, and wouldn't for a while yet, but they all knew that it had become so.
For her part, Sami was fighting off the feelings she was developing for these two women, fighting off the carnal urges that churned inside of her whenever she was with them.
The Grille was no longer a part of Sami's life, sadly, she thought, but the sadness of that day that she had felt earlier, had given way to a new gladness that made her smile.
Shut a door, open a window; indeed, it was a life-truth, wasn't it?
__________________________
As the summer semester wound down, Sami was terribly busy with her modeling for Lynn, as well as being a part of the planning for the gallery's opening, which was a few weeks away.
At Ali's request, Sami had procured another coed for a part-time position at the gallery; she had spoken to Justine, a class-mate who was looking for such a position. Justine was one of Sami's very few 'close' acquaintances whom she had not had in her bed. They were friends, but not lovers, neither of them thinking to be anything else. Whether Justine knew of Sami's whispered reputation, Sami didn't know or care; Justine accepted and liked Sami for her persona, not her sexual prowess.
Sami continued to fuck both Su and Nikki, loving her time with these mentors; indeed, that was how she thought of them both, while they, at the truth of the matter, regarded Sami as one of the best pieces of young ass that either had ever had.
Whatever the reason, it worked for the three of them, both of the older women seemingly content to share Sami's loving with the other. They, the three of them, no longer had threesomes among themselves, but with each, Sami enjoyed many couplings that had included various others as playmates, several of which were part of the Art Scene in the City.
Sami no longer had any doubt, if she ever did, that she was a full-blown lesbian and you know what? She was very much okay with that bit of truth about herself. Oh, she had lied to others when she spoke of having tried sex with 'guys', always indicating or intimating that she had been with several males before surrendering to the truth of her Sapphic nature; but the truth of having sex only once with a boy would remain within her, for whatever reasons.
At twenty-one and with her last semester of undergraduate work at college in front of her, Sami had reached stability and acceptance of herself, and for that, she was pleased in too many ways to count.
Jena left New Orleans at the end of the summer to rejoin her husband in D.C. and their last night of love-making for Sami and Jena was one of the hottest and satisfying that they had ever shared. No threesome, no kink; just the sensuousness of the two of them pleasuring each other for the last time.
__________________________
The Fall semester started and Sami had scheduled herself for just 12 credit hours, the last twelve credit hours of her undergraduate career, which freed her up to work at the gallery and to continue to pose for Lynn, and now Ali, who had started a pen and ink series using Sami as her body-model.
Before they realized it, it was opening night at Lynn's Alley and the ensuing throngs of patrons spilled out into the street. Sami had worked her butt off within the contacts she had made through Su and Nikki to guarantee a good turn out, and it paid off.
Between Sami and Ali, they had milked the Art Scene in the City for support with the opening, and the Art Scene didn't disappoint.
Her 'girls', for that's how she thought of Ali and Lynn, were blissfully happy with the turn out; and after the opening had closed that night, as she, Justine, and the girls shared the last of the Champagne, they, the girls, let her know how much they appreciated her hard work.
It made Sami glad on the inside, and for that she was even happier.
It was afterwards that she thought she might have screwed the pooch with both Lynn and Ali.
Justine had gone to a pep rally for the football team and let Sami borrow her car to run some errands. Sami ran her errands, finishing the doobie she had rolled, between stops at stores, the last one, to fill up Justine's tank.
Driving back to campus and more than a little buzzed, Sami noticed a light on above the gallery. Giving in to an impulse, she pulled to the curb, parked, and let herself in to the darkened gallery with her key.
Hearing noises from above, Sami called out to Lynn and Ali, hoping it was one of them upstairs. Not getting an answer, Sami's first impulse was to go back out the door and call the cops. It was then she noticed Lynn's car parked across the street. Relaxing, she climbed the stairs to the studio/workspace and scared the living shit out of Lynn, who had not heard Sami calling her name.
