FIRST TOUCH
Jodie has offered Melissa a part time job at the mill because she knows the staff, but deep down she is wanting to know more about this vivacious younger woman who doesn't appear to show any fear. By the end of the week however things have become much more intimate and when Melissa's mom unexpectedly outs herself it causes Jodie to re-evaluate the situation.
Jodie could recall vividly the first time a woman had touched her sexually it was during her second year at college when an older woman had come onto her. Admittedly they hadn't gone much further than a kiss and a bit of groping but Annie had been somewhat hesitant because she was a lecturer. In the end she stepped back from the brink and left Jodie to her own devices. Nature abhors a vacuum and ultimately Nina became her first fuck. Years later Jodie would concede that she should have learned her lesson with Nina. Had she followed her natural instincts instead of trying to fit into the straight world things would have been very different.
Nina was only a one night stand, and that one night stood out as being the first time she'd let go of her strict regime and just gone with the flow. She'd never intended for it to go that far of course but Nina had just kept flirting with her as they went from their rooms on campus and into town. A few hours at a mall followed by a light lunch and then back to their rooms, but when Nina suggested she come in for a few minutes it seemed rude not to acquiesce.
Later on she would blame the combination of weed and bourbon for what happened next but it was only since her marriage ended that Jodie finally admitted that she'd always been different when it came to her sexual orientation. Guys were cool and easy to be around but that's because they were predictable. Women on the other hand were complicated and while she liked the hardness of a man, she loved the complexity of a woman's mind and the gamut of emotional states. One never knew what would happen next. There was a part of her that had always suspected she was into women to spite her Aunt Ella who was married to a prominent anti LGBT campaigner.
However since coming out, Jodie had gone through a steady stream of women, some were out and out gay, others were bisexual or just curious but lately it seemed as if the latter type had become the norm rather than the exception. Angie was just the latest woman to make a play, only to baulk at the finishing line and she found herself coming out to Melissa over the course of the following week, At first it was just during their breaks but because they were in a disused office gradually that rule was bent until it finally disappeared.
Melissa turned out to be a good listener and partly because she was so curious and out of Jodie's need to air her dirty laundry, Jodie found herself opening up about her past. There were some times she really thought she'd succeeded in convincing Melissa that sticking with guys might not be such a good idea, even if Josh was a bit mixed up. But then the younger woman would throw out an off color joke or line that could very well be taken much further, and yet when it came to work she could throw herself into it and do everything asked of her.
Her out of hours visits showed a different aspect of her personality. She was flirtatious to the point of satire, coming out with lines and jokes straight from the lesbian world. She could also talk about sex in quite graphic terms and yet not once did she say, "let's just fuck." But it was in her eyes, Jodie could see that as plain as day, all she had to do was step across the line and it would be on for real and yet she stayed on her side. It was a safety mechanism she'd perfected over the last few years to keep functioning professionally.
These after hours visits had been a thing before Jodie put her on the books but after that first day at the mill they changed to a nightly thing and not wanting to discourage her Jodie readily welcomed her presence. Her bubbly personality combined with the tomboy persona was a refreshing change from the women she'd known in the past who put out their feelers but kept their true feelings hidden behind a carefully constructed mask. Melissa could be childlike without pushing it too far, her off color jokes left no room for doubt that she was sexually active and indeed loved sex, she identified with the Democrats but like Jodie, thought Clinton a waste of space.
"She could have just retired and written her memoirs but instead she went at it like a bull at a gate and look what happened."
It was almost as if there were two Melissas in the same body, the flirtatious girl and the studious young woman who took every task seriously. Jodie's instincts proved to be spot on though, she knew the guys who came into the office and could give a running commentary about their likes and dislikes, their strengths and weaknesses. It was something Jodie pointed out to Mark in an after work phone call from Melissa's home on the Friday night.
"Okay," Mark finally agreed, "we'll put her on as a temp and back pay her as well."
"Thanks," she replied.
"This other thing," he went on, "have you thought about it?"
"Pittsburgh sounds okay," she slipped a hand beneath the collar of her blouse, "at first it seemed like an exile but the salary is certainly attractive."
"It is and it's not an exile," Mark answered, "you've paid your dues and this would mean you could do your own hiring and firing. We need someone at the helm who can take the brand further, you've got the ground floor experience, you know how the management structure works and it's not just me saying this. Others have noticed as well."
"Okay," she looked up as Melissa came into the room. She had changed out of her work clothes and into a Western style shirt and jeans, "I'll give you my answer early next week."
"Have a good weekend," he replied.
Jodie farewelled him and put the phone down.
"So you're heading to Pittsburgh soon, huh?" Melissa sat down opposite her.
"Yeah, maybe," she stared at the shirt, "it's a job offer that just came up, same company but a better salary, I like that shirt."
"It's my stage outfit," Melissa looked down at it, "because we're playing Country music I like to look the part."
"I got a pair of braces that might look good with that," Jodie leaned forward and studied her phone, "pity I left them back in New York."
"Okay," Melissa smiled, "so, moving on. How long you fixin' to be here?"
"We got another week at the most," she frowned, "maybe just three days, it would have been longer but you've been worth your weight in gold. We got through a whole lot more than I thought this week."
"So, if'n you move to Pittsburgh would I still see you?"
"That depends on you," Jodie looked at her, "it's only two hours drive."
"Yeah, but what if you were with some woman? How would that work?"
"Ah, that's complicated," she mused, "women tend to get jealous easily."
Melissa opened her mouth to reply but then stopped as her mother came into the room. Julie nodded at Jodie.
"You stayin' for dinner?"
"I um," she looked down at herself, "I gotta go home and get changed, I'm going to Bob's Bar tonight and right now I look like a city girl lost in the backwoods."
"Well maybe we can change that," Julie moved closer, "you're about my size up top anyways, come with me and we'll see what we can find for you."
Melissa shot Jodie a strange look as the older woman got to her feet and followed Julie upstairs to the master bedroom.
"You mind if I ask you a personal question?" Julie closed the door behind her.
"Ask away," she felt the butterflies rising in startled flight.
"Are you gay?"
"I am," she exhaled slowly, "I'm not out waving flags but I am what I am."
"You ever tried being with a man?" Julie moved past her to the wardrobe.
"I was married for a few years but it just didn't work out, he was a decent man and we're still friends but I couldn't lie to him any longer and so I ended the marriage."
"My daughter seems quite fixated on you," Julie opened the wardrobe door.
