Chapter 3: Just Us
"Emma, this was a delicious dinner, thanks so much." Francesca drained the last of her wine, just as a loud, ...very loud, clap of thunder rattled the windows of Emma's fifteenth floor apartment. The wind howled around them, as they sat securely in the warm glow of the fireplace open to both sides between the dining room and living room.
'Yeeeek! Oh, God, I hate thunder. It still scares the hell out of me, even at my age, Frannie. Remember how you always made me sing loud to drown out the fear when you slept over? Those were the days!" Her cheerful, infectious laugh ended abruptly with the next brilliant flash followed by the hollow boom of the nearby lightning strike. "Ohmigod, did that hit this building???"
"Emma, for heavens sake, calm down, it's nothing. Look, isn't it beautiful, the sheets of rain blown by the wind, the great white and blue flashes of lightning on the other buildings? This is a perfect prairie storm, big and bold, reaching to the sky! Enjoy it! We're safe inside, a warm fire, a glass of wine, errr, at least, I had a glass of wine, ..and my best friend! What more is there in life?" Francesca soothed her.
"What makes you so sure the wind won't break the windows? Look at them shiver and shake!" Emma was not comforted at all. She laughed bravely, "what if it blows the building down, for god's sake? Then what will you say? " She smiled at her own words now, but once again her laugh was cut short by a huge thunderclap and sky-splitting bolt of lightning cutting its jagged way from the clouds to the cityscape below.
"Frannie, will you stay over tonight? Charlie is out of town; I'd really like the company! It's a terrible storm out there. Come on, be a friend. We can have a pajama party just like when we were kids! OK?"
Francesca couldn't really think why not; she didn't have to go to work, and it would be fun to have the whole night to talk and laugh. She agreed, talking right through the biggest thunderclap yet and she saw Emma start and nearly jump out of her chair.
"Oh, great, come on, let's have coffee in the other room, you can watch the damned storm from there and I'll just sit and shudder and hide my head under my arm! What about some brandy, as well?"
"Ummmm, sounds good, but I'm getting a little tipsy, I'm liable to fall asleep on you." she laughed and following Em to the other room. Em turned out the lights and lighted a candle for large glass coffee table, low and sleek between two bright yellow sofas. They looked inviting, deep and comfortable. The room was cast in a warm glow by the shimmering light of the fireplace and the candle. The brandy was warm and silky.
Emma closed most of the drapes, and then made sure she was facing away from the windows and the storm. They sat talking, solving the problems of the world, exposing still more of their own lives, fears and laughs, in the detail that only close friends can.
"You know, Frannie, Charlie and I really enjoyed having you to dinner last week, it was so much fun. We talked about it a lot. He likes you as much as I do, I think. 'Cept of course, with me it's love, ....... More than 'like.' She gave that luscious smile, turned on the couch and planted a big rather wet kiss on Francesca's surprised lips. "Like I always say: I love you, buddy!"
Emma sat back with her knees up, arms folded over them and peered at Francesca. She was really very pretty and looked cute, now perched on the arm of the couch. Francesca recalled that was Emma's favorite spot, skirt slipped up into her lap. The crotch of her white panties gleamed in the bright light of the fire. Francesca noticed that she had grown up though, now wearing nearly transparent sheer nylon undies.
"Oh, Em, I really feel the same way. It is so good being together with the two of you. I ask you, how often in life do you meet the husband of a good friend and find you like both of them? Most of the time it just doesn't work that way and you end up wondering what they see each other. With you, I feel completely open and free. It's wonderful! That's all there is, after all. In the end, we just want to be close, to find those who just love you for you. Those who let you be yourself and love you as you are."
"Wow, Francesca, that is such a pretty thought. True, too, I think. I think you just got philosophical on me, eh?"
Francesca laughed. "I guess so, Em, but I've thought a lot about it, lately. Something you said just reminded me of it. The only thing any of us want is intimacy. That feeling you find with maybe half a dozen people in a lifetime. We keep those moments inside and polish them and when we take them out, they make the sun shine all over again. It's magic! Know what I mean?"
Emma looked into her eyes, long and hard, as if thinking deeply about the question. "Yes, I do." She smiled archly. "Let's have another brandy." She bounced down to get the bottle, then stopped beside her friend, knelt in front of her and leaned forward to kiss her again. Francesca felt Emma's hands touch the sides of her breast, ever so lightly, as their lips met, tasted, parted, then returned for another peck. "Yes, I do." She repeated, more softly this time, as in a whisper.
"Another would be good." Francesca whispered, a little hoarsely. Her mind turned this over once or twice, and quietly and calmly suckled on the nugget of sweetness in the shared moment of tenderness.
They drank more quietly now, lost in thought, almost, and Francesca turned to slip her toes under Emma's thigh in that familiar way from years ago. They drank the warming brandy in the flickering firelight as the storm entertained others with fireworks outside.
"Bedtime?" Emma smiled, the fire glinting in her eyes and a smile turning the sides of her mouth upward.
Francesca's mind swirled a little bit, pondering the distinct excitement she had felt at the touch of another woman. She cocked her head to one side, half closed her eyes as she did when thinking hard. Then looked at herself in the mirror and nodded a little gesture of calm acceptance. It was Ok. Nothing could be wrong with this.
