Trudy left Holborn tube station with her heart beating like a drum, positively fizzing with anticipation for if she played her cards right in the next two or three hours she'd be having passionate sex with Della van Kousen. For most of the time Trudy had known her, -- about a year in all -- she'd just been a voice on a phone. The first and until now, only time they'd met face-to-face was when Della had accompanied their mutual boss down to the Swindon office approximately six months earlier. The two 'pear-shaped' brunettes hit it off immediately and when Trudy had discovered whilst on their lunch break that like her, Della was into women that had been the cherry on top.
Of course that feeling had been short-lived as Trudy had discovered this fact in the context of Della showing her pictures of her live-in girlfriend. Trudy consoled herself with the fact that it had been highly unlikely that anything would have happened during Della's visit anyway. It wasn't as if she was staying overnight in a hotel like their boss sometimes did. But things had changed in the months following. Trudy had successfully applied for a different job which would bring her to London to live and work. The job in question was Della's own. Della was moving back to her native Holland following her break-up with her girlfriend, the break-up having taken place mere weeks after the Swindon visit. This was all gleaned from a coffee break they'd taken together on Trudy's first day in London.
The visit had started on the Tuesday when Trudy had finished work a few minutes early to catch the London Paddington train. She'd checked into her hotel -- the Premiere Inn on St. Martin's Lane, only a four or five minute walk from her company's UK headquarters that evening. The purpose of the visit was for Della to show Trudy how to do the job and for Trudy to view a number of flats that the company had helped find for her to choose to live in. The former activity had spanned the whole of Wednesday, Thursday & Friday morning, leaving the afternoon and the whole of Saturday to view eight flats in various parts of West & South London.
As it happened Trudy picked the second of the three flats she was to view that Friday afternoon and thus the third viewing that afternoon along with the five viewings next day were all cancelled. Trudy now had the whole of Saturday and most of Sunday to do as she pleased in her favourite city before catching the train home Sunday evening, all on the company. The first thing she intended to do was to sleep with Della! Following their conversation over coffee on the Wednesday, Trudy had started to work her 'magic' to get Della to go to dinner with her, preferably on either the Friday or Saturday night on the pretence that Della would be at a loose end on those two nights, all alone in the big city. Trudy was pleased when Della agreed to meet her for dinner at a Dutch-themed restaurant just off New Oxford Street on the Friday evening. It had taken a little convincing for Della to go along with it as she said she had a friend's party to attend near Maidenhead on the Saturday night and didn't want a 'late night out' two evenings in a row and they'd have to meet early so she could get home early.
After leaving the office of the property-letting agency where she'd signed for the flat she'd picked, Trudy had taken the tube to Oxford Street and made straight for the branch of Harmony where she bought a matching black lace bra & panty set and a pair of sheer-black crotchless suspender-tights she'd seen on her prior visit. Trudy was a voluptuous and shapely size fourteen but she sometimes had to do a little more hunting around when it came to lingerie that suited her as despite the advent of specialist 'plus-size brands' it appeared to be geared more to the size six to ten contingent. However, for the basics like now, it was simply a case of finding something that fit. She'd had ample opportunity to pop to the shops as they were open until 8.00 the two previous evenings and she had indeed availed herself of the opportunity to along with Ann Summers and Victoria Secrets, but not wishing to jinx anything, Trudy refrained from actually buying anything until the last minute lest Della cancel on her. She found herself rushing to get back to her hotel room which was little more than a windowless box with partitions for the shower, toilet/washbasin and the bed.
She stripped off the puffy white blouse and cravat, black pinstripe pencil-skirt, black flats, sheer-to-waste gloss tights, matching white bra & panties she'd worn that day and took a shower. Drying off she'd made her short, crew-cut hair as vibrant as she could with what she'd either packed or subsequently bought from a nearby branch of Boots and after applying deodorant, make-up, jewellery & perfume, unpacked the underwear she'd just bought and put it on. She sensuously slid the tights on, one leg at a time, feeling the sheer black nylon sail up her silky-smooth legs in almost one tug. After straightening the sheer waste band of the nylons that functioned as a suspender belt just below her navel she slipped on the panties followed by a black sleeveless cocktail dress and heels which she'd brought with her on the off chance that she'd be going out. Completing the ensemble with a black cardigan and a shiny leather handbag, she headed to Leicester Square tube station and a short ride later found her self outside the restaurant. She expected to have to wait for her date but was pleased to find Della already there.
Like Trudy, Della was in her late-twenties and broadly the same build. However, whereas Trudy was 5"6, Della was more 'compact' at 5"1 and so appeared to be larger. Both women sported round 'baby faces' with naturally red cheeks that made them quite cute and appealing. Della wore her hair long & curly and wasn't wearing quite as much make-up or jewellery as Trudy, not that Trudy had overdone it on that score either. Her outfit comprised a tight-fitting black dress, but hers was long-sleeve and knee-length and more suited to the late-March evening than Trudy's perhaps was. The outfit was rounded out by a pair of black fishnets and black flats. The combination of flats with nylons was a combo Trudy disdained, especially if it was when the person was 'dressed up'. Trudy only wore flats with dresses/skirts & nylons if she had a lot of standing around or rushing about to do.
"Have you been waiting long for me?" Trudy asked. She approached Della and planted a perfectly platonic kiss on each cheek. A gesture Della reciprocated.
"No, only about five minutes." Della replied in perfect English. When she'd first spoken to Della all those months earlier, Trudy had thought that she was either American or Canadian. She'd been genuinely surprised to hear she was actually Dutch and that English wasn't her first language.
"You look terrific. I particularly like the fishnets, very sexy." Trudy said, deliberately focussing on the only visible part of her underwear to see her reaction and omitting her dislike for Della's choice of footwear. Della playfully performed a pirouette for Trudy on tiptoes and Trudy was pleased that her dining companion had been perfectly fine with her comment about her hosiery.
"You look quite well turned out yourself," Della noted, "Shall we?"
They entered the restaurant which had soft lighting and even softer music playing in the background. There was a low ceiling with exposed wooden beams and in addition to an L-shaped bar with half-a-doze bar stools there were perhaps twenty circular tables with four chairs at each cardinal point and a candle in the centre. Only three of the tables were occupied.
"It's because it's only 6.50 and also there aren't too many Dutch tourists in town at this point. You come in here at 8.00 on any night -- particularly a Friday or Saturday between mid-April and mid-September and you'd have an extra five tables set up and every one would be occupied."
"It sounds like you come in here a lot." Trudy noted.
"It reminds me of home. Perhaps not the with regards décor," She gestured to prints of paintings by Dutch impressionist painters adorning the walls, "But the food and ambience."
They opted to go straight to their table -- they had their pick of the nine available ones -- and ordered drinks. Neither initially requested alcohol, Trudy because she wasn't a heavy drinker ('Dry January' wasn't much of a challenge for her) and Della because she was 'saving herself' for the following night. They also both passed on the starters and just made small talk. Much of it was rehashing what they'd discussed before. Della talked about her upbringing in the Netherlands and how her parents met and what brought her to the UK.
"People think because of our marijuana cafes and red-light districts we're a liberal and tolerant society, but not in small communities like mine. When I realised I only liked women I knew I needed to get away to somewhere more cosmopolitan, so I came her to study and ultimately work."
"Why go back, if it's not conducive to your lifestyle?" asked Trudy.
'There are too many memories associated with here. Though I don't rule out returning to live here in the future." Della replied.
Further conversation was put on hold when their meal arrived. A hearty affair washed down with a glass of wine each. Despite her earlier protestations about not drinking too much that night, when the waiter came to take their plates away and ask about desert, Della demurred and asked instead for a second glass of wine -- a large one. Trudy chose the desert instead, a bowl of ice cream, followed by a coffee. Eventually there was an empty coffee cup in front of Trudy and an empty wine glass in front of Della.
