Thank you so much for the comments and votes! I know this installment took longer, but between holidays and family it was difficult to get the girls from my head and onto the page. I'd love to know what you think, so please comment and vote!
*****
JJ drove them to a small bar near the center of town. Ashley was familiar with it, but had never gone inside. She was pleasantly surprised by the warm, tasteful furnishings. Wood gleamed under the florescent lights, tables spread throughout while the bar had tall stools pushed underneath. Posters advertising various beers hung on the walls. Televisions mounted on the walls silently displayed sports games or current events.
Ashley waited until they were seated at the far end of the bar and had been served before she started in on JJ.
"Okay, I need an explanation. I know you said you're fine, but damn JJ. One minute you're crying and the next you're all smiles. What's going on?" Ashley kept her voice low to avoid attention from the regulars.
JJ shrugged and took a long drink off her beer. "I just put myself in Mack's shoes. I'd never thought of things from his side. How much loosing Emily messed him up. That pretty much ate up all the anger I had left."
"So now you're fine?" Ashley clarified, taking smaller sips form her drink.
"Mostly. Enough that I can take you out for a fun day like I wanted to." JJ grinned over at Ashley who gave JJ a serious look. JJ rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm fine, I promise. Yes, I was a balling mess for a bit there, but I'm fine now. I don't dwell on things."
"You realize I'm not going to let you out of my sight now, right?" Ashley teased, giving JJ a squinty eye.
JJ laughed, a real laugh that had Ashley smiling widely in response. "That's fine with me. Kinda how I had the evening planned out in my head."
"How so?" Ashley began picking at the corner of her beer label, already curling and damp from the condensation.
"I knew you were coming home today. I wanted to surprise you and go have fun out somewhere, like we used to. Take over the arcade or go roller skating. Just have fun." Maybe it was the endorphins from her crying spell surging all over the place but JJ felt good. Happy. Elated almost.
"We still can, I mean, the day's still young. I'll do anything but roller skating though." Ashley blushed and sipped her beer, an IPA that JJ had never heard of, Dogfish Namaste.
"Why no roller skating? I remember you being pretty good at it before. Maybe a little wobbly on turns." JJ thought back, trying to figure out why Ashley would be hesitant for that particular activity.
"JJ, I was more than a little wobbly. I look like an old lady trying to walk, not like a certified athlete who just can't get the hang of skating." Ashley blushed.
"Damn. Don't let anyone else hear you say that. You'll have all the ladies from the bowling alley out for blood." JJ giggled, which just made Ashley blush harder. "Would you go if I offered to help you get the hang of it?"
Ashley had a flash of them together, like a scene in one of those romantic comedies that Sarah and Brenda loved. JJ would hold her hand and gently guide her around, catching her when she slipped, staring into her eyes as she righted Ashley. Their natural chemistry would create a tension and they'd turn a simple day out as friends into a date.
Ashley wasn't sure how to feel about this. She didn't want to make this into something more and risk losing JJ as her best friend. Unfortunately, she was having a hard time forgetting being with JJ at the club. The fact that she and JJ had been intimate had been a shock at the time, but the alcohol and JJ's own reaction to them had pushed her feelings and concerns to the back burner.
Everything came back to the fore when she'd gotten home that night. On a purely physical level, it had been one of the best sexual experience of Ashley's life. Only one of the boys she'd dated had ever been allowed to take things that far and been successful. Granted, she'd been looking for something physical when she'd gone to the club but Ashley had never intended to actually let someone, male or female, get as far as JJ did.
On an emotional level the experience rocked Ashley to her core. Not only had she allowed a stranger to bring her to orgasm, she'd done it in an incredibly public place. And it hadn't been a stranger, it had been JJ. Tears had come and gone as Ashley had come to terms with various feelings, confusion, pleasure, embarrassment, shame, longing.
Confusion because she had thought herself straight, despite her early experiences with JJ. Those were simply childhood experimentations. Right?
Pleasure because Ashley had never had such a powerful physical reaction to another person before and it had filled her with wonder and euphoria. The memories were still just as powerful.
The embarrassment and shame went hand in hand with how forward she'd been with JJ. Not only had she approached JJ, but she had pulled her off the floor first. It had been her who lost control and came all over JJ's leg. She couldn't lay all the blame for that on the alcohol. She had wanted what JJ had been offering.
The longing was nothing new, but it had been intensified after that night. Longing to be held close to another. Longing to give and receive pleasure. Longing to love another person as deeply and as thoroughly as she could.
It had taken a few days for these emotions to mellow out, but they were not forgotten, not by a long shot. Ashley was doing her best to enjoy her time with JJ but this plan to spend the day together had her focusing on the memory of JJ's body against her own. Ashley swallowed against the sudden thickness in her throat and glanced over her drink at JJ.
"I'll go, but if I fall, then we do something else." Ashley watched JJ's hair fall forward only to be combed back by JJ's fingers.
"Deal. Drink up, we're going skating!" JJ grinned, lifting her drink to her lips.
***
"Oh, this is a bad idea." Ashley groaned, hobbling along the carpet to the edge of the rink.
They'd finished their beers and JJ had driven them to the roller skating rink, a big plain building with the same sign from about forty years ago. The entrance was a cramped mishmash of color and noise, like you've walked into a circus instead. The concession stand dominated the middle of the floor with skate rental off to the immediate right, neighbored by the prize center. All along the back wall stood various arcade style games, most of them highly popular in the 90s. And off center to the right, taking up the majority of space, was the rink with its old waxed wood floor.
JJ joined Ashley at the edge, seeming much more confident and relaxed in her borrowed skates. "You'll be fine. There's almost no one else here."
