Johanna and Maxine is set in Melbourne in 2016 and is a spin-off from 'Women Who Talk' as published on Literotica and some of the characters do appear in the story. The main protagonists are Johanna and Maxine. When they meet at a pool hall they are drawn to each other. Johanna is a little unsure at first and Maxine is definitely curious, but she is constrained by her boyfriend and her Christian faith.
Author's note: The pool hall no longer exists, it's been bought out and the building used by another business, but I used my artistic licence to recreate it in the same place. If you want to read more about Melanie, Sigrid and Louise then you can read their stories on Literotica, 'Crossing Over' and 'Melanie's Tale,' both are published on Literotica, Johanna is pronounced Yohanna for those who are interested.
AND THEN THERE WAS YOU
Melbourne has long been promoted as a visitor paradise with its iconic skyline, restaurants that sell food from all around the world, its bayside suburbs, and a relaxed feel with the slogan, Australia's most liveable city. Like most cities it has a darker underbelly, brought to international fame by the Gangland wars of the late '90s and early '00s, earning it the title of the murder capital of Australia. Despite this title however most Melburnians were relatively untouched by the violence as rival drug rings fought it out for control of the drug trade in a bloody tit for tat war that claimed over thirty lives. They see themselves as a multicultural people and culturally aware.
However, there is a sameness to the architecture as you travel outwards from the CBD, you can literally trace the history of this city the further out you go. The eastern and western suburbs have their own distinctive subcultures that owe much to the passage of the sun. Easterners always had the sun at their backs as they went to and from work in the city and the demand for more houses in the east resulted in higher prices and a more middle class vibe. People in the west always had the sun in their eyes and were working class. This was exacerbated during the waves of immigration after the Second World war when new migrants were drawn to cheaper houses in the west and north. Some could argue that this was a deliberate policy to push migrants further out west and north, away from the plusher eastern suburbs.
The outer suburbs, in general, have long been lampooned as a cultural wasteland, as popularised by the famous
Kath and Kim
comedy series set in Fountain Gate. Another cultural backwater is the outer eastern suburb of Bayswater North. Up until the late '80s it was possible to find green fields interspersed with factories, but as the developers cast their eyes further east the greenery was slowly swallowed up by houses, shops and more factories. Only Montrose and Kilsyth retained a little of their green places.
Maxine let her mind drift outwards as her boyfriend tapped the wheel in time with the music. Three months ago she'd flown out of Heathrow after a three-week holiday in Europe. She'd spent ten days with Gillian, her best friend from high school, Gillian worked as an English language teacher at a high school and lived with her girlfriend, Karin.
Maxine was entranced by Stockholm where much older buildings melded seamlessly with modern architecture. Gillian had bought her a rail card and visitor pass so she could cruise around during the day and check out museums and other tourist attractions. The nights were spent with Gillian and Karin and it was obvious that they were very much in love.
She had never thought of Gillian as being gay because she'd always been the prettiest girl in school and Maxine was ashamed to admit that she'd fallen for an age old trope that should have been put to bed long ago along with other prejudices and ideas. Spending time with two lesbians had opened her eyes although she hadn't delved too deeply into it in case it was seen as intrusive.
Gillian however, had admitted she'd always felt drawn to women even in high school, something that Maxine found almost disturbing although she'd never admit to it but she'd felt the same thing over the years. She did modify her views on gay marriage and relationships though, they were as normal as anyone else.
The rest of her holiday had seen her visiting Helsinki, Warsaw, Berlin, Copenhagen and Paris before making her way via train to London and her return flight. She'd felt genuinely moved and excited at what she'd seen and yet when she arrived back in Melbourne it was as if nothing had happened and she'd struggled to fit back into Australian society. The travel bug had truly bitten and Maxine spent hours scouring the internet checking out travel vlogs whilst she saved her money and just lately she had started learning Swedish with the help of an app.
Only her sister, Rowena showed a passing interest in travelling but that was because Rowena and her boyfriend Dave were planning a honeymoon next year. Maxine's boyfriend Mark on the other hand saw no need to leave Australia, although he did want to visit some of the mega churches in America. She had started going out with Mark two weeks before she flew to London and he was there to greet her along with her mother and sister when she returned.
Maxine stared at the CD player in Mark's car as he turned the volume up and frowned as the sounds of Petra filled the car. She wasn't against Christian artists but Petra dated back to the '80s and she was a liberal-minded Christian. Her music collection was an eclectic mix of music from the last few decades, most of it kept in the cloud. Mark on the other hand was old school, his music was all on CDs or vinyl, the latter was an even more expensive way to collect music.
She turned away and stared out the window as Mark put his foot down and picked up speed, under normal circumstances she might have commented on his music but tonight he'd finally agreed to come to the pool parlour with her. That came with the caveat that he not drink and she'd agreed, he could drive and she could have a drink instead. However he looked a little pensive when he picked her up from the house she shared with her sister, Rowena and Dave.
"How long are we staying there?"
"I don't know," she'd shrugged as she fastened the seatbelt, "a few hours."
"A few hours?" Mark stared at her.
"A couple of hours," she replied.
Maxine closed her eyes and let herself go, it'd been a tough day at work although she'd certainly had harder days and she was looking forward to a night out that didn't involve church activities, Mark liked his Friday night games nights with friends from church. They'd sit around playing on the Playstation whilst she sat and watched them or read on her Kindle but just lately Maxine had become bored with the same old routine and for the last three weeks she'd steadfastly refused to go out with him on Friday night. At first Mark had been in agreement but two days ago he'd called her at home and asked if there was something wrong with their relationship.
"Perhaps there's something we can pray about together? Seek the Lord's will?"
If there was one thing Maxine didn't want to do, it was pray with Mark about anything. For a start they hadn't been going out together for that long and praying together felt too weird. Instead she'd come up with a suggestion to go out somewhere else, like the pool parlour. That idea had popped into her head at the time along with a trip to the cinema or dinner at a restaurant, but as they drew nearer and nearer to the place she could sense the tension in the air and that was confirmed when Mark turned the music down.
"That rain's getting worse," he complained, "I'm not sure this is a good idea."
"What do you mean? We'll be inside," she opened her eyes.
"We still have to get from the car to the front door," he explained.
"And?" Maxine rolled her eyes, "we'd have to walk from the car to the house, it'll be fine."
Mark muttered something under his breath and she stared straight ahead, not wanting to say more on the subject lest he change his mind but there was no denying her irritation.
***
Johanna Birger avoided Bayswater North during the week as she drove from her home in Montrose to her workplace in Ringwood but on Friday and Saturday nights she drove down to the industrial estate on the corner of Canterbury and Colchester Roads. The estate was actually located in Kilsyth South and nestled in amongst the factories was a pool hall with a licence to serve alcohol and a small bistro, the food wasn't that good but Johanna didn't go for the food. She went to play pool or snooker and chat up the women, it was a more casual environment than the nightclubs where one had to shout to make yourself heard and fight the guys off.
When she first arrived from Sweden years ago she'd made the classic mistake of visiting nightclubs and whilst there were lots of women keen to date an American-Swede, she'd soon encountered the ever-present undercurrent of violence in the clubs and abandoned them soon afterwards.
She folded the collar of her blouse up and flicked out her long brown hair that framed a longish angular-shaped face and brown eyes. She didn't consider herself supermodel material but on more than one occasion she'd been described as a classic beauty, which was pleasing. She wore a white blouse, blue jeans and a black waistcoat and ankle boots.
She turned to pick up her pool cue, she'd bought it online three months ago and considered it one of her better 'impulse' purchases. It was made of straight-grained maple and quite a few men down at the parlour had admired the cue, although it could be argued some were also admiring the woman who held the cue. It had become something of a lucky charm that had helped her to escape the nightclub scene.
A couple of minutes later she slid behind the wheel of her red Toyota RAV4 and closed the door, the windscreen was still wet from the rainstorm that had moved in from the west a few hours earlier but the forecast was for clearing showers overnight and a blue skies tomorrow. She plugged her phone in and told it to phone Miranda.
"Calling Miranda," the phone responded.
Miranda answered the phone as Johanna was backing out of her driveway and sounded out of breath.
"Johanna, hi, what's up?"
