While this story is perfectly fine standalone it forms part of a longer series, so if you want to understand more about Harriet and Zach's adventures then please do read the others. Zach's birthday surprise, mentioned frequently throughout this story, will be covered in a separate, follow-on story... this story is all about the work that Harriet does beforehand to make the magic happen. And boy does she do some work...
Harriet took another sip of her wine, trying to calm the nerves that seemed to have settled in a tight knot in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't felt like this in years... but then, she also hadn't found herself waiting for a date to show up in years either. That delicious sense of both apprehension and anticipation was unfamiliar, but she found it thrilling.
She looked again at her phone, but nothing since the message a few minutes before: 'Sorry, running 15 mins late. On my way I promise! Pxx'
Looking round the bar, it was busy with the after work crowd, standing room only, but luckily she had booked one of the small booths off to the side for the evening so was able to sit, watching the entrance and waiting for her date to arrive.
Harriet had herself come from work, having completed her shift as a doctor at one of the large Sydney hospitals, making sure she left on time for once. She'd been able to grab a quick shower, taking the opportunity to put some make up on and get changed before she left, and then, almost before she had had too much time to think about it, she was there, waiting.
It had taken her an age the night before to choose what to wear, but she figured in the end that casual but with a smart edge was the way forward. Finally she'd chosen a pair of light blue, tight fitting, low-waisted jeans with a narrow leather belt that hugged her slim figure with a white strappy top, the bright pink strap of her favourite set of lingerie just visible, almost teasing at what was beneath. On her feet she'd gone with high heels, her nod to something more formal, and also because, well, wearing heels made her feel sexy as hell.
In the brief time that she'd had while getting changed, she'd also put on some make up, including some bright pink lipstick to match her underwear and the nails she'd had done a few days earlier, and that worked well with her tanned face. Her dark blonde hair was loosely tied back, and to finish the look she wore earrings and her favourite necklace, a silver chain with a letter H hanging from it, a present from her husband Zach.
Zach... thought Harriet with a smile, taking another sip of wine. He thought that she was on shift all night tonight, her cover in case the date went particularly well. She hated not being completely truthful with him, but at the same time this was well within the boundaries that they'd agreed recently and, well, was all part of a plan to give him the best birthday present ever on the coming weekend. So long as she told him about it afterwards he'd been explicit that he was fine with it, and Harriet was going to be fully truthful with him. But only after the birthday surprise, otherwise it would spoil it for him...
Glancing towards the door, there was still no sign of her date. Harriet was incredibly excited but also nervous, because her date that night had also been her secret crush for the last few years, that one person that, for some unknown reason, entirely unbeknownst to them, takes up residence inside your head, the cause of attraction almost impossible to identify, sending you wild with unrequited desire.
Often it can be that person you see on your commute every day, or someone in another team at work, or someone on another course at university, or the other customer who goes to the coffee shop at the same time as you every morning, or anything. But the common denominator is a shared moment of attraction, a spark, a brief conversation, and then, at least for a while, nothing.
And if it stays as nothing the crush dissipates. But... if it doesn't stay as nothing, then maybe the crush doesn't go. Sometimes it gets stronger and stronger.
For Harriet, that crush had been running for several years now, and had started in her Pilates class, with the instructor, Phoebe...
Two years before
That first time that she met Phoebe, there were none of the signs. Harriet had been running late, and rushed into her usual Pilates class to find that the normal instructor had disappeared to be replaced by a new one, Phoebe.
The class had been ok, nothing to write home about, and as so often happens with a new instructor there was quite a lot of grumbling afterwards, people who were used to the previous instructor's way of doing things not liking Phoebe's different approach, and also questioning whether an instructor in her late twenties could be as good as the old one who had been doing Pilates for more than twenty years.
If she was being honest with herself, Harriet felt the same. But... the timing of the class was convenient for her so she decided to give it a go before looking at alternatives.
Over the next few weeks the class numbers had dwindled, until three weeks later Harriet turned up and found that she was the only one. Her and Phoebe made small talk while they waited to see whether anyone else would turn up, but after five minutes Phoebe had shrugged and, with a look that seemed to be on the edge of tears and made Harriet feel huge sympathy for her, said, "I guess you're getting a private session today... are you ok with that?"
"Oh, definitely," replied Harriet with her most reassuring smile. "Everyone else's loss is my gain. Don't go easy on me though!"
They'd started the session and, one-on-one, Phoebe was a great instructor, making sure that Harriet was always getting into the right positions and making tweaks constantly to her posture to get the most out of every exercise.
Forty five minutes in and Harriet's muscles were burning, the fatigue really starting to set in, but she was feeling great, really relaxed and in the zone. Phoebe asked her to do one last exercise before they started to warm down, a plank with a rainbow motion of her hips to each side, but with the fatigue kicking in Harriet was struggling to hold the right form.
Phoebe came over and said, "Sit up for a second and let me show you."
And, as Phoebe settled into her plank, Harriet kneeling a few feet away to the side, that was the moment. Something about seeing Phoebe's perfect plank up close, watching all of her muscles working, seeing the muscles on her abdomen and lower back tensed, the shape of her legs and ass through her leggings, and watching as she perfectly controlled the rainbow motion from side to side, whatever it was hit Harriet like a bolt of lightning.
She had never been sexually attracted to another woman before, never fantasised about another woman, never kissed another woman, Harriet had been as heterosexual as could be. And so possibly that moment, the sudden sheer arousal and desire that flashed through her, hit her harder than it would otherwise, a mix of the forbidden and the erotic.
Harriet felt herself blush, but played it cool when Phoebe sat up and asked her to do the plank now instead, hoping it would look like she was flushed from the exercise. Getting into position, she tried her best to emulate Phoebe but knew she wasn't quite getting it right.
