This is part 5/6 of "The Ballad of Flavia and Sarah".
Many thanks to
DawnDuckie
for editing it.
Flavia rolled off Sarah and lay still on the bed, catching her breath. After a moment, Sarah rolled over too, cuddling up to Flavia despite the sheen of sweat covering both their bodies.
Flavia put her arm around Sarah. "That's the way every morning should start."
"You're telling me. Are you feeling hungry? I could whip up a veggie Full English."
"There's no rush; let's enjoy the moment. Besides, maybe I should switch to yoghurt; I've put on six pounds since you moved in. I love your cooking, but it's not good for me."
Sarah lifted the cover to look at Flavia's body. "Where do you put it? You're absolutely perfect."
Flavia kissed her. "
You're
absolutely perfect. You know that, right?"
"I've certainly got the perfect girlfriend."
Flavia sat up. "I'll cook you breakfast for a change."
"You don't have to." Sarah began to sit up too. "I can do it."
Flavia pushed her back down, and her head hovered over Sarah's. "You just don't want to eat my food, do you?"
"No, I love your cooking. It's just that you work so hard, and I like to look after you."
Flavia's lips descended to kiss her. "I've got the day off. Cooking will help me relax."
"No, really, you..." Sarah stopped talking when Flavia began tickling her, squirming under fingers that she couldn't avoid.
"Admit it!" said Flavia. "Admit you hate my cooking!"
"No, I..." Sarah giggled, turning onto her front to avoid the tickles.
Flavia grabbed Sarah's right leg, holding it tight while her nails ran along the sole. "Admit it!"
"No! No! OK, I don't like your cooking."
Flavia let the leg go. "I knew it," she said in mock outrage, before smacking the bottom Sarah was presenting to her. "That's for lying to me." She smacked it again. "And that's for not liking my cooking."
Sarah rolled onto her back, her arms behind her head, her naked body exposed to Flavia. "I love so many things about you: your kindness, your bravery, your tenderness, your sexiness, that thing you do with your fingers and tongue. But I admit it: your cooking sucks. I guess even you're not perfect."
Flavia ran her hand over Sarah's torso. "Are you sure there's no treat I can offer you to eat?" She swung a leg over Sarah.
Sarah eyed Flavia's womanhood, glistening between her legs. "You're insatiable. I only ate that ten minutes ago."
"Are you saying you don't want it again?"
Sarah smiled as Flavia positioned herself over her face. "I didn't say that."
π€
Flavia was lying on the leather sofa, wearing nothing but a baggy t-shirt. Between her legs, lying against her, was Sarah, who didn't even have a t-shirt. They were watching a '90s romcom on the television.
Flavia popped a Malteser into her mouth, then Sarah's. "I don't get why Meg Ryan doesn't tell that man she loves him."
"It's not Meg Ryan."
"Isn't it?"
"No. It looks like her, but this is some cheap knock-off movie. That's why the acting's so bad, and the plot makes no sense. We can put something else on if you want."
Flavia put another Malteser in Sarah's mouth. "No, I want to know how it ends now we've started."
"It's a romcom. We know they'll end up together."
Sarah heard the crunching of a Malteser near her ear. "So why would anyone watch it?"
"To see fake Meg Ryan work out her feelings."
Flavia hmmed. "Well, we're comfortable. Let's watch the rest."
They were interrupted by the ringing of Sarah's phone. Picking it up, she saw it was a video call from Georgina. In view of her lack of clothes, Sarah accepted audio only.
"Hi," said Georgina. "Have you seen?"
"Seen?"
"Our videos. On YouTube. They've gone viral."
Sarah accepted another Malteser from Flavia. "How viral?"
"Over three million views."
Coughing on the snack, Sarah said, "Three million? Are you sure?"
Georgina squealed. "That's just for
Silent Tears
. The other songs have got loads of views too. I think this could be it. Kira and I've been working on some new material, but we could do with a hand from you on the lyrics. And a journalist wants to interview us."
Sarah sat up. "An interview? When? Who?"
"It's just for an online newspaper. But she wants to speak to the whole band. It's happening, Sarah!"
After hanging up, Sarah leaned back against Flavia and told her what Georgina had said.
"I'm so happy for you,
innamorata
." She popped another Malteser into Sarah's mouth. "Oh, that's the end of the packet. Anyway, I think we should celebrate. When this film ends, how about we take that tub of HΓ€agen-Dazs up to bed?"
π€
The noise from the workmen outside came muffled into the Queen Elizabeth, where Sarah, Georgina and Kira were sat opposite Maisy, the journalist. Sarah wasn't quite sure what she expected a music journalist to look like, but it wasn't this glamorous young blonde in a designer pant suit. Bethany and Daniella were playing pool to the side; there was almost nobody else in the pub mid-morning on a Wednesday.
"So," said Maisy, "Things almost fell apart with your first recording?"
"Yeah," said Georgina. "
Silent Tears
did really well when we played it live, but we couldn't get the right energy in the studio. It's annoying; new listeners weren't hearing us at our best."
Maisy nodded. "But the festival performance turned that around?"
"Absolutely," said Kira. "We put on our best show there, and the responses on social media have been epic. We just need to figure out how to record better, so we don't blow it again. We've written almost enough tracks for our first album, and the audiences love them."
"Nice," said Maisy. "I was there at the festival, and you totally smashed it. It's why I wanted to interview you. There's another thing that makes your band stand out: you're all gay, right?"
"No," said Georgina. "Initially we all through we were straight." She glanced at Daniella. "Well, most of us. And we're still not a lesbian band. Bethany's our token straight girl."
"Which one's Bethany?"