Love Comes When You Least Expect It

Hi all

This is the first in a new series I'm starting to develop. It's called "Love Comes When You Least Expect It." It's got many inspirations, but it takes a step away from the much darker material I wrote earlier, and more towards something sweeter, happier and more sensual, like my "A Night with a Friend" story. It's also intended to document my new relationship with BDSM, and my changed attitudes, understandings and interests.

Fair warning, although I've put it in Lesbian Sex, it contains quite a bit of BDSM.

I hope you enjoy!

Cheers

GT

*****

Madeleine "Maddie" Reid gave a surprised start as she realised that she wasn't alone. She had been lying on her back, with her eyes closed and her earphones blaring Fall Out Boy into her ears, not realising that someone was standing above her until she had opened her eyes and found herself looking up at a female figure riding a large stallion. She quickly sat up and removed the earphones.

"Hello. Are you... um... are you all right?" the figure asked.

"Oh hi! I'm fine! Just fine!" she gabbled. "I was only enjoying the sun."

"I see," the girl replied, swinging her legs off the stallion and dismounting. "I didn't mean to bother you - sorry!"

"No, no, no, it's fine," Maddie replied, awkwardly getting to her feet. "I just wasn't expecting company."

As she faced the girl - who was about her size, but with a finer, leaner frame - she began to relax. She didn't look as threatening as she'd seemed when she was towering over her on the horse. She wasn't wearing sunglasses like Maddie was, and her face was warm and friendly. She had dark, slightly reddish hair that was about shoulder length.

"I'm Maddie," she offered her hand. The girl stared at it in surprise, then shook.

"Issy," she replied.

"Issy?" Maddie echoed.

"Yes. Short for Isabella Stellini," she said. "My parents were Italian-Americans."

"I could tell. From New York?" Maddie was already fairly certain - she had seen enough American television to recognise the thick New Yorker accent the girl was using.

"Yeah," Issy confirmed. "I grew up in Manhattan."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's someone from the land of hope and opportunity, such as yourself, doing all the way over here, in the land of miserable fucking weather and old grouchy bastards?"

"I moved here about four years ago. My parents were getting tired of living in a big city. And they were really starting to hate America, what with all the guns and right-wing politicians. So they decided that the English countryside was the best option."

Maddie smiled. She herself had grown up in this particular part of Derbyshire for about fifteen years now, and was all too aware that the people here were far from "liberal," and that it had one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the country. But she decided not to say anything now.

"Four years, you say?" she said. "So how come I haven't seen you around here, before?"

"I dunno. I guess it's because I didn't go to school here. I've just left Bedales."

This made sense, Maddie thought. Bedales was all the way down in Hampshire, and if this lovely young American was boarding there, she would almost certainly have never seen her around here. Plus, Bedales was one of the most expensive schools in the country, so the girl must've come from quite a wealthy family. It was highly unlikely she was going to run in the same social circles as Maddie, whose family were publicans. There was one thing that didn't make sense, though.

"Bedales? That's quite a posh place, and you must've been there for a while. Why haven't you lost your accent?"

"I don't know. My parents always talk about the importance of my Italian heritage. And we're proud New Yorkers at heart. I think that rubbed off on me a little bit."

That made sense, somewhat, Maddie thought to herself. Out loud, she replied "Ah, I see. Well, it's nice to meet you, Issy." Nodding at the stallion, she asked, "What's this big guy's name?"

"Monty," Issy replied, stroking his mane as she did so. "We bought him when we moved here, but I'm the only one who still likes riding him, so I take him out regularly. Do you want to ride him for a bit?"

"What? Oh, I -" Maddie blinked. She felt her insides churn, and a wave of fear hit her. She tried to push it out of her mind, with limited success. "No thanks. I'm actually a bit scared of riding horses."

Seeing the discomfort on her face, Issy went red. "Oh. I- I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"Oh no, no, no, no, no!" Maddie said, quickly. "It's fine. You couldn't have known, could you? Tell you what, I was going to head back home anyway. I'm fine to walk alongside you."

"Good idea!" Issy couldn't keep the relief out of her voice.

-- -- --

"If you don't mind me asking, where do you live, Maddie?" Issy kept a tight grip of her reigns as the gradient came to an end and they found themselves on an open road.

"Oh, my family own the local pub, and we live just above it. You ever been in there?"

"Do you mean the Beehive?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, my family's been there a few times on Sundays. We always go there when we have relatives over from the States. How long have they owned the place?"

"Long as I can remember," Maddie replied. "Though if I'm honest, we don't exactly see eye-to-eye on its future."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've made it very clear that running a public house isn't what I want in life. I don't want to be stuck in this stuffy little town, where very little happens. I want to leave Derbyshire and study law in London. I want to work for a City firm. I just want to live. They, on the other hand, think I should stay. That I owe it to my great-grandparents, who built the place from the ground up."

"Beholden to dead people, right?" Issy said.

"Right. What about you? Where do you live?"

"About ten minutes' drive from the town centre. At Prendergast Farm."

Maddie considered this information. The patrons of the family pub had spread a lot of rumours about a family called the Prendergasts having gone bankrupt and the father going to jail for using non-organic fertilizer whilst claiming an organic subsidy. So Issy's family must've been the rich foreigners that had bought it.

"Oh lovely! I've always wanted to visit that place. I hear that there's so much space there."

"You heard right," Issy replied. "Anyway, I'm afraid I have to head off in that direction in order to get there..." she pointed off in a direction that was obviously quite a bit away from the town where Maddie was going. "We're going to have to separate."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Well, it was nice to meet you, Issy."

"Same..." Issy paused, her face once again blushing a little. "Hey, uh, listen - I was wondering, do you wanna go for a drink sometime?"

"A drink?" Maddie's surprise registered in her voice.

"Yeah. Like, I feel like I don't know that many people in this town, despite having lived here for four years. I feel like I really want to get to know you."

"Oh yes, definitely! In that case, I would have to say yes!"

"Fantastic! Can you make it this evening? You can choose the venue."

"Well, we're not going near my parents' place, that's for sure. Do you drive?"

"I do."

"Well, if you would like, maybe we could go to the neighbouring town and have a drink at one of the pubs there. Would that work for you?"

"Definitely! Shall we meet up at 6, near the war memorial by the church?"

"It's a date!"

"Yes... a date," now Issy was really blushing. Maddie herself had caught what she'd said. But she didn't correct herself. Why, she didn't know.

-- -- --

"You going out tonight, sweetie?" Miriam Reid asked her daughter as she saw her leaving her room. She was dressed in a beautiful black dress - the only really nice one that she owned. Her straight, brunette hair shone from having just been washed, and she had applied a little makeup to her face.

"Erm, yes. Sorry Mum - was going to tell you earlier," Maddie mumbled as she went straight through to the sitting room and rummaged around for her handbag.

"Mind if I ask whom you're going with?"

"Just some girl I met out on the moor. American. She was very friendly."

"A girl you say?" Maddie's mother smiled a smarmy, knowing smile. "A girl as in a female friend? Or a girl as in a girlfriend?"

"Mum!" Maddie was blushing furiously. "What on earth!?"

"Well, you look more like you're dressed for a date," Miriam replied, in her calm and somewhat playful, motherly tone. "And I know for a fact that you haven't dated a man in years. So one does wonder!"

"Well, for your information, it's just a drink in the next town over."

"Oh, all right, darling. Whatever you say!" Miriam sauntered through to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

"Have you seen my bag?"

"Your bag?"

"I know I had it here earlier. I can't find it anywhere!"

"It's right here, sweetie!" Miriam held it up. Maddie rolled her eyes, went over and grabbed it from her hand, before heading out.

"Bye Mum. Have a nice night!"

"Bye Mads! Enjoy your date!"

"Shut up!"

The door slammed shut.

-- -- --

Maddie made her way through the town towards the war memorial, which was about five minutes away from where she lived, above the pub. It was a fairly standard-looking cross with names written at the bottom and a wreath of those Remembrance Day poppies laid at the bottom. About fifty young men had been memorialized there, all locals killed in action in the First World War.

It was a fairly warm day today, but Maddie was shaking slightly, nonetheless. Why would she be shaking? She was just meeting this girl for a drink, right? She'd only met this girl a couple of hours ago, and they were going to try and get to know each other a bit better. So what was there to be nervous about?

At that moment, a car pulled up. It was a 2010 Renault Twingo, jet black in colour. Behind the wheel was Issy. She was wearing a pair of sunglasses, and her smile was far brighter than it had been earlier on.

"Hey!" she greeted.

"Hey!"

"Sorry I'm a little late. Took me a while to find the keys..." she faltered a little, as she looked her up and down. "You look nice!"

"Thanks!" Maddie replied enthusiastically. "You too!"

"Thanks. Why don't you get in, and we can go on our way?"

Nodding, Maddie walked round and got into the passenger side. As she did her seatbelt up, she noticed that there was an absolutely amazing smell coming off the girl next to her. It was like a meadow.

"What kind of shampoo is that?" she asked.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you," Issy said, with a smile forming on her face. "It's a little secret."

"Oh come on, you can tell me!"

"I know. I'm just not going to. You're going to have to find out for yourself."

"Spoilsport!" Maddie pretended to grumble.

The drive was about 20 minutes, and the girls made a little small talk. Issy talked a bit about her life in America before she moved over, and her family history. Maddie, meanwhile, talked about her own upbringing, her family's ownership of the pub and her time at State School. They were both 18, although Maddie had only just had her birthday in the last couple of months. Issy wasn't too far from turning 19.

Eventually, though, they pulled up at a pub called "The Fighting Cocks." Upon seeing the name on the sign, both girls laughed.

"If only they knew how weird that name sounded a hundred years later!" Issy giggled.

"I know, right?"

Inside, Maddie ordered a large bottle of Bulmers, while Issy ordered herself a Budweiser. They sat down at an unoccupied table by the window. The pub wasn't too busy, but there was enough noise that they had to lean in to talk to each other. The conversation continued for a while longer. And it flowed a lot better than when they had been up on the hill. The awkwardness was finally gone, and they were discovering that they had a lot more in common than they thought. Despite having come from fundamentally different backgrounds, they still saw the world in much the same way. Both held Libertarian beliefs, were both disillusioned by the political situations in both Britain and America, and had no intention of voting in any future elections.

The first pivotal moment of the night, however, happened when the subject of family came up.

"So, I know you're here with your mom and dad. Do you have any siblings, Issy?" Maddie asked.

"Oh, uh no. I'm an only child, if you can imagine," Issy replied, laughing nervously. "My parents say that most people could tell just from meeting me!"

"Oh no, of course not!" Maddie replied, catching her meaning. "You're such a lovely and well-rounded person. You certainly don't come across as... well, as spoiled, I assume that's what you were inferring."

"Whew, that's a relief!" Issy said, smiling. "What about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No sisters," Maddie replied, absent-mindedly. "I had a brother, but..." she stopped, suddenly, as she realised what she'd said, and where she was straying. "But... umm..."

The pain in her stomach, combined with her increasing heart rate began to overwhelm her.

"It's okay. I understood," Issy said reassuringly. Instinctively, she reached out and squeezed Maddie's hand.

When Issy's hand touched Maddie's, she almost felt a jolt of electricity rush between them. Not static. It woke her up. Seeing the concern in the girl's eyes almost brought tears to her eyes. And her heart was still beating faster. She didn't know it, but that single touch would stick in her memory for many years after.

Mercifully, Issy changed the subject.

"Do you watch Netflix, by any chance?"

Maddie perked up immediately. She started talking about all of her favourite Netflix shows, such as Stranger Things and The Crown. Issy hadn't seen the latter, and it had sat on her watch list for well over a year and a half.

As the conversation continued, they ordered more drinks. Then more. After a while, both girls were getting more than a little tipsy. Both girls turned out to be quite happy drinkers, and tended to laugh a lot more.

At one point in the conversation, they began talking about the American sitcom "Friends," which Maddie had only now been able to watch directly as a result of Netflix. As it turned out, Issy had just started herself.

"I mean, obviously, I thought I'd like Ross when I started. You sorta see the clips and think "He's the straight-laced, rational one." But then you get right into it, and you realise that he's just a complete prick. He's possessive, he's petty, he's immature, and he doesn't know how to communicate his feelings."

"Definitely! At least Chandler has a cruel sense of humour, and Joey's a loveable idiot!" Maddie laughed. "What order would you rank the characters in terms of preference?"

"The main ones? Or am I allowed to bring in the occasional characters as well?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Issy began. "This may be a bit weird, but my favourite character is actually Janice."

This did take Maddie a bit by surprise.

"Janice?" Maddie echoed. "Mind if I ask why?"

"Well, first off, I don't mind her accent so much. I used to hear people speaking like her all the time. She doesn't have that different an accent from my own."

Suddenly, Maddie realised something.

"Come to think of it, you do look like a character in Friends!"

"I do?" Issy asked.

"Yeah, you do. I saw it quite recently, and I'm on season 8, so around then. One of Joey's sisters appears in it. I think she's played by an actress called Marla Sokoloff. Appeared in a couple of episodes of Full House as well." Maddie quickly fumbled for her phone. "Let me try and find a picture. You'll see what I mean."

As she pulled the phone out of her bag, but immediately lost her grip and dropped it to the floor.

"Oh fuck!" She shouted, before realising she had said it too loudly.

She bent over and picked it up. To her intense relief, the screen wasn't damaged, and nor was the phone, when she checked. But when she looked up, she saw that many of the nearby patrons - a lot of them quite a bit older than them - were looking at her. Not all of them with sympathy or concern.

"Hey, er, Issy?" she said quietly. "You mind if we leave? I don't think I want to stay here."

"Yeah," Issy staggered to her feet. She didn't have a high tolerance herself, it seemed. The two made their way cautiously to the door, and outside. It was quite dark for a summer's night.

Looking at her car, Issy shook her head.

"I don't think I'm gonna be able to drive, I'm afraid."

"Shall I call a cab?" Maddie asked.

"Sure. I can come back tomorrow and pick it up."

With significantly more care than earlier, Maddie took out her phone and dialled the number of the local taxi firm. She'd needed it for several nights out, so it was on speed dial. She gave the location to the man who answered, and explained that they needed to go to two locations. She was informed that there was a driver already on his way to the pub to drop someone off, and it would be there in two minutes, so she could use that when it arrived. Once she hung up, Issy sat down on a low wall that was nearby, and Maddie joined her.

"Hey, uh, I'm sorry to embarrass myself like that," Maddie said.

"You shouldn't feel embarrassed because you swore loudly in public," Issy said. "Most of those people were Baby Boomers. They've probably said quite a few in their time."

"I know, I know. It's just that there's a swear jar in my parents' pub, and I get really uncomfortable swearing in there. It sorta follows me around, that discomfort." This was a lie, but it was all Maddie could think to say.

"I see," Issy smiled reassuringly. "Well, it doesn't matter. I've had a great time with you."

"As have I," Maddie managed to smile. "We should meet up again sometime soon," she suggested.

"Definitely. How about tomorrow afternoon?"

"Tomorrow? Sure. What were you thinking?"

"How about you come to my house? I have a swimming pool, and the weather will be warm. My mom and dad are at work, so we'll have the place to ourselves."

"Sounds like a plan! How does 1pm sound?"

"Sounds perfect to me!"

"Great!" Without thinking, Maddie threw her arms around Issy and hugged her tightly. Issy hugged her back, also without thinking.

After a couple of moments, Maddie awkwardly pulled back, and stared into Issy's eyes.

Issy stared back.

They just kept looking at each other for a minute. Both realised that they had nothing to say. So they just kept staring at each other.

Mercifully, the taxi arrived very soon after.

-- -- --

"Okay, this is me," Maddie said to the driver, pointing to the pub, who nodded his head and began to indicate left, to pull over. "What's my share?" she asked Issy.

"Oh no - please. Let me."

"But it's only about ten quid - I can manage that!" Maddie protested, but she stopped when she saw the look on Issy's face.

"Please?"

"Oh, all right. But I'm getting the next one." She patted her shoulder and got out. The cab pulled away.

Minutes later, she got up to her bedroom, locked the door and collapsed on her bed, her mind racing.

What the hell was going on with her? Everything that had happened that night had been perfectly normal - dropping her phone and swearing a little loudly in the pub was no reason to leave early. And her hug with Issy had been perfectly innocent. So why had she felt so awkward, so nervous around her?

The moment when Issy had grabbed her hand seemed like a place to start. It had felt like a jolt of electricity going through her body.

As she thought some more, her hand began to wander absentmindedly down under her jeans, and started to twirl the little tufts of pubic hair under her knickers. She closed her eyes, and slid her index finger under her knickers. To her surprise, she realised her pussy was quite moist, so she coated her finger in some of the juices, and circled her clitoris with it. It felt really good - she felt her body relax and let out a pleasured sigh.