Is She Isn't She?

EPILOGUE

***

Ashley could tell that Jeanie was in a filthy mood before the brunette even flung open the door. She could hear the younger woman's footsteps stomping down the hallway outside the apartment.

The blonde pursed her lips grimly on the cream couch. Having a younger girlfriend had its challenges. Jeanie was impulsive, unsettled, and woefully bad at controlling her emotions.

The sounds of the brunette making her big entrance into Ashley's apartment with Ashley's spare key sounded throughout the lounge room.

"Ashie!" Jeanie appeared, flinging her handbag onto the couch. "Fuck my life. My boss is a stupid fat doughball, I hate him!" She moved straight to the kitchen.

Ashley suppressed a snort. "Your boss is a what?"

The noises of Jeanie rummaging through Ashley's fridge floated from the next room. "A doughball. A big fat ball of dough."

Ashley took a sip of black tea to keep from laughing, legs curled beneath her, the newspaper's crossword sitting forgotten on her knees. Meanwhile there was a fizzing as Jeanie cracked the top off a beer. The brunette had tipped a quarter of it straight down her throat by the time she reappeared.

"I hate my life," she announced from the doorframe.

"No, you don't." Ashley corrected gently. "What happened, hun?"

"He's fat, that's what happened."

Ashley made her voice stern. "Jeanie."

Jeanie hissed in annoyance. "He is! A fucking bitchy fat doughball. He looks like the marshmallow man from

Ghostbusters

."

Ashley groaned. "Jeanie, you can't just attack someone for their weight."

"Yes I can. Watch me."

"Clay isn't even fat. He's just solid and nuggetty."

Jeanie narrowed her eyes. "Why are you defending him to me? He's fucked."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Okay Jeanie, I'm just trying to ... it doesn't matter. Just tell me what happened."

"I cut some dickhead off, right?" After the Tasha-glassing incident two months earlier, Jeanie had left Bolton's. Her new job was at a dirty little fly-in-the-wall straight pub.

Now, dressed in black, with her matching eyes and hair, the brunette radiated darkness from the doorway. "He disappeared and Ophelia, you know, the short girl studying nursing? I told her to check to make sure he'd gone."

Ashley raised her eyebrows. "Let me guess: he hadn't?"

Jeanie swigged her beer. "Fucking lurker. So Ophelia went up to him and was like, mate, you need to go. And the guy went troppo and got all aggressive like, up in Ophi's face and stuff. He was twice the size of her."

Ashley frowned. "Was she okay?"

"Well, yeah. I went charging out of the bar and got between them and said 'mate, I'm the one who cut you off, not her, so if you want to yell at someone you can yell at me. I'm your height'." She tossed her head, eyes flashing arrogantly.

Ashley winced. "Jeanie, that doesn't sound very safe. Then what happened?"

"The Fat Controller doughball kicked the dickhead out - then dressed

me

down for it! He said that my behaviour was unacceptable and that I made the situation worse by firing the guy up even more, or something." Jeanie drained the last of her beer, in the midst of a full-blown temper, turned and bowled it underarm into the recycling bin.

Ashley closed her eyes in annoyance as she heard the smash in the kitchen. "Jeanie, we need to talk about your habit of lobbing objects halfway across rooms."

Jeanie shot her a nasty look. "Ash, I'm not in the mood to talk about house rules."

Ashley retorted. "I'm not in the mood for broken glass."

Jeanie shrugged out of her jacket, balling it into her fist. "It landed in the fucking bin. Anyway, I didn't want Ophi to get yelled at by a drunken dipstick for something I'd done, so I stand by my fucking decision!" She threw her scrunched jacket, hard, into the corner.

Ashley blinked at the girl's rage. "Whoa, Jeanie, calm down. You're being over the top." She compelled the younger girl to behave with her cool green eyes. "It's not a big deal. Just smile and nod. You'll be out of there as soon as you get your degree."

"I fucking hate my stupid job!"

Ashley stood, the newspaper sliding to the floor, and crossed the room. "I know you do, sweetie, but it's a means to an ends."

Jeanie leant to one side, letting Ashley through to the kitchen, and continued to rant. "I mean I'm intellectually slumming it. Last night some guy made cat noises at me over the bar. Like, seriously? I swear to god I lose about six IQ points every time I go in there. It's beneath me."

"It is." Ashley took two beers from the fridge and grimly handed one to Jeanie. The blonde hadn't planned on drinking that afternoon, but the brunette's frenetic energy and wild temper was stressing the older woman out. "Let's cheers to you not being there for very much longer?"

All she got was an "Eurgh" from Jeanie, who sourly clinked her bottle against Ashley's before gulping from it.

Ashley sighed. "Baby just let it go, it's over now. What can I do to make you feel better?"

Jeanie grunted, not looking at her. "Nothing. What's for dinner?"

Ashley poured a large quantity of bitter beer down her own throat, feeling the cold seep into her chest. "You," she replied.

"What?" Jeanie snapped.

"You heard me," Ashley returned calmly, pushing Jeanie in the direction of the dining table. "I'm having you for dinner."

Jeanie's back hit the side of the oak-coloured table. She made to slide away. "I'm in the mood to smash something, not to have sex."

Ashley held her still. "We'll see about that." Jeanie was always horny. She was just still too shy to let go of her inhibitions and go for it with Ashley.

The truth was that they actually hadn't been able to have sex that often in the two months they'd been together. Jeanie's schedule clashed with Ashley's. The brunette worked nights, Ashley worked days. The blonde had weekends off. Jeanie usually had to work them but if she didn't, she had her friends clamouring for her attention. She was a twenty-two year-old and wanted to party like one.

It irritated Ashley that Jeanie didn't think twice about going to a club at one or two in the morning after a shift, even on a weeknight. She'd call Ashley, often with some ridiculous techno music already thumping in the background, and casually inform her that she'd "only be an hour".

Then the brunette would rock up at five or six in the morning, eyes red from alcohol and lack of sleep, and unceremoniously pass out after blaming her friends for making her stay out. Ashley bit her tongue when this happened, but inside she'd fume. Jeanie's priorities, in order, seemed to be uni, work and partying. Then Ashley. Last.

The blonde didn't know exactly what Jeanie got up to while she was out, either, but uncertainty twisted in her stomach. She knew what Jeanie was like when she drank. The girl was affectionate, gushy and impulsive as it was. Alcohol exacerbated those qualities in her tenfold. Also, the brunette's Facebook was full of flirty or suggestive repartee between Jeanie and her friends, and it unsettled Ashley.

What it boiled down to was the fact that Jeanie thought nothing of cancelling plans with Ashley at any hour. It indicated that the dark-haired girl took Ashley for granted, expecting the blonde to be there no matter what, no matter how little effort Jeanie chose to put in.

Ashley spent a lot of time analysing these facts. It appeared that the beautiful brunette had a naive belief in unconditional love. Ashley theorised that this was because the only profound love the girl had experienced, before the seriousness of her emotions for Ashley, had come from her family. It didn't matter how many mistakes Jeanie had made growing up; her parents, in the nature of parental love, loved her anyway, warts and all.

None of Jeanie's past romantic trysts had gone very far, from what Ashley could discern. Therefore, the beautiful brunette was still emotionally immature. She didn't understand that romantic love came with a different set of rules about giving and taking equally. Parental love happened naturally. Romantic love needed nurture.

Jeanie seemed to think that she was romantically invincible. Ashley would love her no matter what, which gave Jeanie license to do whatever she pleased. And, these factors combined meant that Jeanie's overall behaviour toward Ashley was careless, thoughtless and insensitive.

None of that mattered now, however. Ashley was in the mood to fuck her bratty dark-haired girlfriend. "Take your pants off."

Jeanie's eyes slid to the side and she took a sulky sip of beer. "Ash, I haven't even had a fucking shower yet."

Ashley pressed their groins together intimately against the table and ground against Jeanie slowly. "How about we watch the language until I'm eating you out, Jeanie?"

Jeanie's hiss was immediate. "Are you serious? Do you have any idea how bad a mood I'm in? I'll fucking swear if I want to!"

Ashley's lips quirked. The girl's tantrum-throwing was oddly attractive when it shouldn't have been. There was a fire in Jeanie that was undeniably sexy. Taming the brunette was like taming a wild animal. Ashley liked the idea of taming her, calming her.

With that end in mind, she reached down and casually cupped Jeanie's sex through the girl's black pants, and began rubbing the heel of her hand where the brunette's clit would be, massaging her.

Jeanie stared at Ashley resentfully. "Ashie, I've been sweating all day."

"Good." Ashley kept massaging her. "Your sweat tastes nice."

Jeanie's legs parted slightly, despite themselves. Ashley cocked her head knowingly.

"Do I have to take your pants off for you? Or are you going to do it?"

A smile finally touched Jeanie's lips. "Ashie, you're so stubborn." She set her beer on the table behind them and popped the button on her work pants, lowering the zipper.

"You can leave your shirt on," Ashley told her, "but I want you bare from the waist down."

Jeanie fixed Ashley with dusky eyes. "If you say so, Ashie."

She slid her pants beyond her thighs, her underwear with them. The items of clothing dropped past her knees, and then she was stepping long legs out of them.

Ashley shot her a wicked look. "Good girl." She pressed her body back against Jeanie's for a moment, hands sliding around the girl's waist.

One of Jeanie's hands ran up Ashley's bicep. Her other went to the side of her neck. The brunette pulled their lips together, her breaths quickening as they kissed hungrily against the table.

Jeanie's tongue slid between Ashley's lips, stroking the roof of the blonde's mouth. Her saliva had a bitter, cold kick to it from the beer she'd had. Ashley, pulse increasing, pushed her backwards insistently.

"Up on the table, sweetheart," she whispered. "I'm hungry. I want you."

"Ashie, are you sure?" Jeanie shot an uncertain look over her shoulder at the dining table.

"Jeanie, just do it." Ashley groaned, setting her beer bottle next to Jeanie's. "I really need to feel you in my mouth. Come on."

"Okay." Jeanie sat on the table, scooting backwards across its wooden surface.

Ashley casually took a seat at the head of the table in front of Jeanie, hands on the insides of Jeanie's thighs. She pushed the brunette's legs apart. Jeanie's arms rested on the surface behind her, holding her body up. Her knees were bent, bare feet on the table. She looked both aroused and nervous, as she stared down her body between her legs at her blonde lover.

"Mmm, good girl." Ashley's hands went to the small of Jeanie's back. "I can't tell you how much I feel like giving you head, baby. You're right where I want you." She lowered her head and started licking.

Jeanie gasped. Ashley used the tip of her tongue to nestle between the girl's delicate lips, vibrating gently against her clit. Jeanie gasped again, eyes widening as she watched Ashley eat her out.

"I love going down on you Jeanie, you know that?" Ashley smirked up at her, before closing her mouth over Jeanie's pussy. She started to softly suck, her bottom lip caressing the underside of Jeanie's sex.

"Ohhh." Jeanie's eyes closed and her head tipped back. "Mmmm. Ash that feels amazing."

Ashley's lips and tongue worked together in perfect harmony as she gave Jeanie mind-blowing oral. The blonde relaxed in her chair, her hands cradling the small of Jeanie's back, her elbows resting on the brunette's spread thighs. She was hugging the brunette's hips to her face while she licked her pussy.

Jeanie was starting to sweat. Ashley could hear the girl's hands slide squeakily with moisture on the surface of the table. The brunette righted herself, long dark hair trailing down her back, her face still tilted at the ceiling, mouth opening.

"Oh my god." Her body lurched as Ashley probed with her tongue, sliding it deep into Jeanie's channel and thrusting slowly, languidly, against her inner walls.

She tasted good. Salty and sweet. Ashley wished she could fuck her more often. She loved it. Jeanie's shyness would eventually go away, the more Ashley seduced her – Ashley was sure of it.

It didn't matter that the younger girl flatly refused to go back to Bolton's after the Tasha-glassing incident, and as a result hadn't seen or socialised with any of Ashley's friends since that night. It didn't really matter that she never invited Ashley along to anything with her friends either. Ashley was kept entirely separate from Jeanie's social calendar, but that was okay – for the moment.

The only thing that mattered was that Ashley adored Jeanie. She hadn't been this crazy about anyone for years. Jeanie was a bratty pain in the ass – but she was Ashley's pain in the ass, and she was hot, and she tasted nice.

The blonde's lips massaged Jeanie's clit in a slow, steady rhythm. Jeanie hadn't been that wet when Ashley had started, but she certainly was now. She was dripping. Ashley swallowed all of Jeanie's liquid heat down. It was delicious.

Jeanie spread her legs further apart. "Ohh yes Ash – oh my fucking god!" She yelped as the flat of Ashley's warm tongue smoothed over her clit and pulsed.

Ashley knew that if she kept that up, she would bring Jeanie off in two seconds. So she slowed her pace. Her fingers reached for her beer. She leant up from her task and took a sip.

"How's your day going now, hon? Getting better?"

"Mm-hm!" Jeanie's breaths were coming hard and fast on the tabletop.

Ashley gave her a slow, sexy smile and tipped the bottle. The icy-cold alcohol streamed out of the neck, landing between Jeanie's legs. The brunette flinched with a little squeal.

Ashley calmly watched the fluid drip between the lips of the delicate pussy in front of her. The sight was amazingly erotic. "I'm so glad that you're feeling less stressed."

Jeanie panted, watching Ashley tease her by hovering the bottle over her pussy. "I'm getting there."

"I know, gorgeous." Ashley poured more beer onto and into Jeanie's body.

The foaming liquid ran between Jeanie's pretty lower lips and dripped onto the table below.

Jeanie flinched again and moaned at the eroticism of what they were doing. "Fucking hell Ashley."

Ashley poked her tongue out and lapped the beer up, catching drips as they slid into Jeanie's vagina. The glass bottle was glistening with beads of condensation and Ashley leant it against Jeanie's inner-thigh while she softly explored Jeanie's pussy with her tongue.

Jeanie squirmed involuntarily. "Jesus Ashie, it's cold."

Ashley's green eyes slid from Jeanie's slit to her face. "I know it is."

Jeanie's arms had broken into goosebumps from the stimulation. She groaned again. "Don't stop. Please."

Ashley lowered her lips. Her warm tongue gently flicked the swollen nub of Jeanie's clit. The bitter beer mixed with the sweetness of Jeanie's natural lubricant, creating a cocktail of sexy taste. Ashley began licking her a little faster.

Jeanie's eyes rolled closed in ecstasy, head tipping backwards again. Meanwhile, Ashley fastened her mouth to Jeanie's pussy and started exerting more pressure.

"Oh fuck yeah." Jeanie's voice was throaty, her stomach muscles rippling as her hips started to shake. "Oh Ashie mmm that feels so good, you have no idea..."

Ashley did have an idea – the blonde knew precisely what she was doing. With the plane of her tongue, she pressed against Jeanie's centre and wetly licked from side to side.

Jeanie came within seconds with a shriek, body straining against Ashley's mouth. Ashley had to hold the girl tight with her hands in the small of her back, otherwise Jeanie would have gone shooting off the table in her pleasure. Her cum flooded Ashley's mouth, and Ashley drank from her.

Jeanie's muscles loosened as she came down from her high. Ashley lifted her face from between Jeanie's legs, as Jeanie's gaze dropped from the ceiling onto Ashley.

Ashley loved the brunette's eyes after sex. They were always wide and shining – beautiful.

Jeanie's shoulders relaxed. "Mmm."

Ashley slid her chair out and stood, taking a drink of beer. She pulled Jeanie to the edge of the table, one of the brunette's killer legs on either side of her body, and raised a hand to Jeanie's neck. The brunette's skin felt heated beneath her fingers.

"That was really hot, Ashie," Jeanie said. "What you did with the beer."

Ashley smiled and pressed her face into Jeanie's cheek. "I like getting a little bit kinky with you, Jeanie."

Jeanie's eyes closed contentedly. "Yeah."

Ashley gently bit her cheek. "Do you like getting kinky with me too?"

Jeanie turned her head towards Ashley, clearly enjoying the sensation of Ashley's white teeth pinching her skin. "Yes."

She was all soft. The sharp, aggressive energy she had arrived with had evaporated. Ashley smirked. It appeared as though she had sucked the anger straight out of the brunette's body through her pussy. She felt sexily and successfully vampiric.

Jeanie dropped her head onto Ashley's shoulder, burying her face into the blonde's collarbone. Ashley put her arms around her, the fingers of one hand sliding into Jeanie's tangled dark hair and massaging the back of her scalp. She could feel Jeanie's heartbeat start to slow, and wondered if they would be okay. Now that their passion had quieted, the worry came back and started to gnaw at her.

The blonde knew that Jeanie had confided in her older sister, Rebecca. She also knew that Gerty knew that Jeanie had slept with a girl. Jeanie hadn't told any of her other friends.

Ashley also found out that Jeanie had technically lied about telling her parents. The brunette had been "going to". She'd been all gung-ho and caught up in the moment, and caught up in the exhilaration of being with Ashley. She'd made the phone call that day.

But instead of telling her mother that she had "met someone", all she'd really said was that she "had something to tell" her mother.

She'd planned on saying all the things she'd said to Ashley, to her parents. She'd planned on setting up a meeting.

But she'd lost her nerve at the last minute and told her parents she had nearly flunked a uni subject instead. She'd told them that the 'big thing' she'd wanted to talk to them about was the falling state of her marks due to partying – not that she was dating a girl.

Which was a lie, actually – despite Jeanie's hectic social schedule, she was relatively disciplined when she wanted to be, when it came to uni. She always did her assignments when she had to, and her marks were totally fine. In fact, they were more than fine – she was incredibly bright. Bordering on being too bright for her own good, if truth be told. She could smash out distinctions at the last second without breaking a sweat, which bred her arrogance as well as her laziness and apathy.

All of which would bear out on her academic transcript – at which point, Ashley assumed, the brunette would lie to her parents again and tell them she had "made up" the low grade-points.