I first met Saskia at an art class. I was posing nude and she was one of the students. When I got the chance to see her painting I let out a gasp. Unlike the others it was clearly me, but me as she interpreted me. My hair, quite blonde in real life was jet black in her painting, but she had captured the way it was styled so beautifully. My skin tone was a lot paler too, much more like hers and my lips were bright red, also like hers. What made me gasp was the way she had taken my stiff, self-conscious pose and made me look languid and relaxed with, as the tutor had commented, a lustful look. I realised she was standing beside me.
"Hi Miranda, I'm Saskia." She said.
"Hello Saskia, your painting is wonderful!"
"That's because you're such an inspiration, sexy!"
I blushed again as we gazed into each others eyes. I dimly noticed that we were holding hands, when I felt her gently squeeze mine. The feeling was electric.
"Thank you" I said eventually.
"You're welcome, Gorgeous" she replied.
At the end of the class I had began to get dressed, quickly putting on my knickers, when I realised Saskia was standing beside me
"Hi Sexy." She said
Blushing again, I mumbled 'Hi', almost feeling more exposed as I dressed, I grabbed my bra but as I fumbled with the catch she moved behind me saying "Here, let me" and did up my bra. Feeling her warm hands against my cold back sent a shiver down my spine and more butterflies in my tummy. I put on my blouse but before I could start to button it up Saskia moved in front of me and gently moving my trembling hands aside, buttoned it up for me, all the time staring into my eyes.
"Thanks" I whispered softly.
The moment was broken by a young lad, who also took the class, asking me for a drink. I saw Saskia frowning. Diplomatically I took his mobile number, but said that Saskia was giving me a lift.
"Oh ok" he said walking away disappointedly.
I finished dressing.
"You've broken his heart, you realise?"
"He'll survive. I'm not looking for a toy-boy." We giggled.
"What are you looking for?"
"Right now, to get out of here, but can I be cheeky and ask for the painting you've done of me?"
"You can ask but I have plans for it." She must have caught my sad expression. "But if you'd like we can discuss you posing again, but just for me, over a drink sometime."
She paused to jot her mobile number on another scrap of paper, handed it to me, kissed me softly on the cheek. "Ring me soon, Sexy" she whispered.
In the end I didn't ring her soon. I was busy and a little unsure what I wanted. I had felt something, some connection between us, but I wasn't sure what to do about it. I didn't have a boyfriend at the moment; did I really want to date a woman?
A month passed. Saskia asked my flatmate, Linzi (who was the usual model for the art class), to remind me to ring her. I was still interested in the picture so I rang and we met up. I agreed to pose for her again. What happened is in my submission 'Miranda and the Goth'. After posing for her, out of doors at a ruined abbey, I had gone home, but agreed to return that evening.
Having changed out of my summer dress I had worn during the day into a fitted white blouse and blue jeans I arrived back at Saskia's at about 6pm. She was still busy painting. I stood and watched her for a while. She was wearing a black strap top, a short tartan kilt, black tights and high heeled ankle boots. I found myself looking at the way her long black hair brushed the white skin of her shoulders. Whilst I had felt a frisson of excitement at the art class, I was surprised by the thoughts I was having. I'd never really looked at other women like this before. To cover my confusion I offered to fix some dinner.
"I'm not sure I've got much in the kitchen," she called out.
She wasn't joking. The fridge and cupboards contained little that could be combined to make a meal. Some tinned fruit and cans of fizzy drinks; no fresh fruit or vegetables and no pasta, or anything useful. In the freezer was a large tub of chocolate ice cream. I moved that into the fridge to start thawing a little.
I went back into the room Saskia was using as her studio. She was standing, stretching arms above her head. Her top had ridden up exposing a band of white skin. I found myself staring again. Okay I was currently between boyfriends at the moment and feeling a bit deprived, but here I was staring at a girl tummy and thinking how nice it looked!
"Saskia you have nothing to eat." I said to cover my embarrassment.
"Um, I thought so. Sorry!"
We decided to make her 'speciality' – a phone call to the pizza delivery place!
While we waited for it to arrive Saskia showed me the painting she'd been working on. It was already recognisable as the 'kneeling at the altar' photograph.
"Wow, that's really good" I said.
"Thank you kindly," she replied, pecking me on the cheek.
That led to a discussion of my exhibitionist behaviour that morning. Saskia seized on the fact that I admitted that it turned me on.
"What else turns you on?" she asked.
The question hung in the air. Ever since I'd met her I'd been experiencing thoughts I wasn't used to. Right now I was looking at her legs, tucked up beneath her on the sofa, and the curve of her breasts. What was happening to me? The last time I'd had feelings anything like this I'd been at school, with a crush on Miss Squires, a beautiful games mistress. I'd been her helper on sports day and had followed her about all afternoon, basking in her approval. A noise startled me and Saskia laughed at me. It was the doorbell; the pizza had arrived.
In the absence of clean plates, Saskia's kitchen matched the other rooms for tidiness; we ate from the cardboard tray it came in. We'd ordered a half and half pizza; my half was ham and pineapple, hers was tuna and sweet corn. Several slices into our dinner I decided to try some of hers.
"Let's have a bite of yours."
Saskia took the slice and held it up to my mouth. I touched her hand to steady it and bit off a mouthful of pizza. My hand stayed touching hers; inside my heart began to beat faster as neither of us tried to break contact.
"You have sauce round your mouth," Saskia said in a whisper, as if afraid to break the spell. Putting the pizza down, she picked up a tissue and tenderly wiped around my lips.
"Ice cream?" she asked
"Sounds good." I replied
While Saskia fetched the ice cream I sat astonished at how my heart was pounding. I decided to follow my feelings, rather than think too much.
"I could only find one clean spoon; you ok to share?"
I nodded. She began to feed me ice cream, one spoon for me, one for her. We were sitting so closely on the sofa, our legs pressed together; it seemed so natural to put my arm round her. Saskia decided to tease me, putting the spoon almost to my lips then swiftly eating it herself.
"Oi," I protested, "That's mine!"
"Come and get it" she said, sticking her tongue out with the ice cream on it. Actually she said "Cmm n gdit." – it's hard to speak properly with ice cream on your tongue – but I knew what she meant.
I leaned in and as I was about to try and put her tongue into my mouth, she pulled it back in. Our lips met; so I kissed her, open mouthed, allowing her to put the ice cream into my mouth. Her lips were soft and full, tasting of her red lipstick. The ice cream forgotten we kissed passionately. The soft skin round her lips felt so good against my face.
We paused for breath.
