Rebecca and Rose had always been close, ever since they were little girls, but in recent weeks their intimacy had taken on a more physical dimension. Discovering the pleasure they could give each other had opened their eyes in a lot of ways, and caused them to question some things they had previously taken for granted.
Both of them had long had doubts about their religion, but always kept those thoughts hidden, even from each other. Since becoming sexually active, though, they had begun to talk about it. They both agreed that what they did together, despite what they had been taught, was not sinful. It felt good and no one was hurt by it -- who was to say that it was wrong? From there they began to question all the tenets of their faith, and discovered that many of them did not hold up to scrutiny.
Initially they had been extremely careful about where and when they had sex; there were no locks on the doors in Rebecca's uncle's house, and he had no compunction about violating their privacy as he saw fit. But over time they'd grown less and less cautious, almost like they wanted to get caught. So when one day he walked in on them 69ing, it was almost a relief; but still it had been traumatic. Rebecca's uncle had a volatile temper, and they had never seen him so mad; for a minute they thought he was going to kill them, or beat them up at least, but in the end he'd simply banished them from the house.
This was difficult, too, as they had been suddenly torn away from their community and from the only life they'd ever known. But now that they were settled in at Tanya's it was like a whole new life was opening up before them. They didn't know what it was going to be like, but were excited by the many possibilities.
At Tanya's they shared a bed in a room with a lock on the door, and they'd made love several times. But they kept the sexual nature of their relationship secret, unsure how Tanya and her husband would feel about it.
Tanya's husband had left that morning on a business trip that would keep him out of town through New Year's, and the three of them had agreed to have a movie night together. This in itself was exciting, as Rebecca and Rose had previously been forbidden to watch any movies but really terrible religious ones. Tanya and her husband were huge movie buffs and had an extensive DVD collection; after spending a long time browsing, Rebecca and Rose chose Black Swan, which looked like something they would never, ever have been allowed to see in their previous life.
It turned out to be everything they'd hoped for and more. They saw so much that was new and surprising to them, and could hardly believe their eyes when Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman started going at it. Rebecca looked over at Rose, astonished; she had no idea that they were allowed to show such things in movies. She thought it was the hottest thing she'd ever seen, but even so she managed to tear her eyes away long enough to see how their hostess was reacting.
Tanya's eyes were glued to the screen, and she had a funny, far-away look in her eyes. She was so focused on the movie that she didn't see Rebecca watching her, giving Rebecca a chance to really scrutinize her. It was hard to read her expression exactly, but she definitely seemed interested, which Rebecca took as a positive sign.
On previous nights Rose and Rebecca had waited to have sex until they felt sure that no one else in the house was awake. But tonight they were on each other the moment they hit the bed, and they were louder than they'd been before. When they were finished Rose immediately fell asleep, but Rebecca lay awake in bed, wondering if Tanya had heard them and if so what she was thinking.
