Natalie settled into her overstuffed armchair, pulled close to the small space heater. The wind howled, rattling the windows as it rattled Natalie's nerves. Sipping hot tea, she stared at her journal opened before her. This was Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, and she had been spending the evening focusing on the fact that she was alone, and had been for too long. The sky was an inky black, and Natalie was very thankful that she was inside, warm and dry on this Midwinter's Night, and her mind started to meander down dreamy paths, aided by the rum in her cocoa.
The buzzer jolted her back to the here and now. Crossing the room to the apartment's intercom, she was surprised and happy to hear Lyssa's low voice-- any evening with Lyssa was a good time. Natalie held her finger on the button that opened the buildings front door far longer than necessary, realizing her excess when Lyssa knocked at her door. Natalie swung the door wide in her excitement to see Lyssa. It had been months since she'd laid eyes on the tall brunette-- Lyssa had left Clover Falls last spring to pursue an intense long distance flirtation.
"Jeez! What are you even doing here? You didn't tell me you were coming!"
"What, you don't like surprises? Gonna make me leave and do it over?"
Natalie pulled Lyssa into her apartment, "Oh no, no, you aren't leaving anytime soon! What's up? What are you doing here?"
"Got something to drink, Nat? I'm soaked right through, and could use a little something to warm me from the inside out." Lyssa's eyes sparkled with her request-- who could say no?
"Mmm, yeah, hold on a second, I'll do you a cocoa with rum--- house special tonight."
"Lucky me, arriving on rum and cocoa night-- sounds great."
"Won't take but a minute, make yourself cozy, you remember where things are." With that, Natalie left for the kitchen. Lyssa peeled off her wet hoodie, draping it over the radiator, taking a seat on the couch, she began to tousle dry her short brown hair.
Her eyes fell on Natalie's journal, still open on the coffee table, she recognized the decorative handwriting. Quickly, she began to skim the information from the page, which started with an plea to the Goddess Freya to manifest her heart's delight on this Solstice. Natalie was obviously of the school that the best manifestations came about from very detailed lists of what it was exactly you wanted-- the page read like a rather needy want ad.
"Oh Freya, hear my plea, you know my bed has been empty this past year. Please, Oh Goddess, change my fortune, and bring to me a lover so skilled I find the release I have been waiting for. I want my lover to be bold, and unafraid to use me as I need to be used. Someone who will accept the gift of my body, yearning to be trained by touch."
Walking back into the small living room, Natalie saw Lyssa glancing at the book, and flushed. Trying to distract Lyssa from her revealing solstice prayer, Natalie shoved the cup at her, spilling some of the hot cocoa in her lap. "Oh god, I am so sorry--"
"You'll pay for that..." Lyssa grinned mischievously at Natalie, who was getting more flustered by the minute.
"So, what's going on? I was figuring I wasn't going to be seeing you for a while.... How's Steph?" Natalie asked, hoping to stop the awkward moments piling up on each other.
"Well, I think that Steph is okay--- she says she'll be much better with me outta there." Lyssa replied with a wry grin. "She threw me out last week. I wasn't really doing anything else in Oakvale, so I thought I'd ride back here for the holidays, see what was up with you."
Lyssa was a study of detached cool; though Natalie was listening to Lyssa's voice, she was hearing what was unsaid, and the tone-- Natalie added it up to see a hint of rare vulnerability as Lyssa admitted to her recent rejection.
"Oh hey, I'm really sorry--- it seemed like things were working out for you..." Unsure of what to say, Natalie trailed off, looking nervously around the room, trying to gauge how much she wanted to know, and how much Lyssa was willing to talk about.
"Nat, 't's okay. Steph made it pretty clear that while we had a good time for a while, our tastes diverged way to far to be happy keeping up with each other. She was looking for someone to take to office parties, who wouldn't get drunk in front of her friends. She hated me showing up to her office on my bike, and wasn't so wild about me flirting with her boss none, either. She is looking for someone to create a better home and gardens kinda life with, and I'm more of a popular mechanics and comics kinda dyke.
"But enough about me, and my recent failure, how are you doing? Did anything ever happen with Charles?"
"No, not even a little. We went out a couple of times, but never really sparked."
"Yeah? Did he mis-fire or what? You've always seemed like a tinder box ready to go, if you ask me."
"Oh yeah? Thanks a lot... and I wasn't asking you anyways."
"No, but you were asking the goddess to send someone like me your way....."
"Like you! Um, no, that wasn't really what I had in mind, Lyssa. For one thing, you're a woman, and I don't really graze on that side of the pasture, if you know what I mean. And besides, that's really presumptuous, even for you!" Natalie tried to appear far more indignant than she was.
Undaunted, Lyssa continued. "For such a detailed description of what you want, it seems like you would have remembered to ask for it in boy packaging if that was important to you-- couldn't help but notice you seemed to have gone all gender neutral in your request. You know I've waited a while for you to take a walk on my side for a change." Lyssa's eyes were gaining intensity, as her words came out more of a challenge than a pondering.
Nervously, Natalie gathered their cups and disappeared into the kitchen. When Lyssa came in, Natalie was standing with her back to the door, elbow deep in hot sudsy water. Lyssa walked up behind her, close enough for Natalie to feel her breath on the back of her neck.
"Natalie, I know that you're lonely, and I know what you've been asking for. No sense in asking for something if you're not ready to receive it--- so are you ready?" With that question, Lyssa brought her arms around Natalie's waist, slowly running her hands around hips and belly. When Natalie didn't pull away, Lyssa grew bolder, and slid her hands up to Natalie's tits, feeling her nipples harden quickly through her soft grey sweater. "I'm telling you that you've been a good girl, and I'm your Christmas present, all you have to do is accept it." Lyssa pinched and pulled at Natalie's nipples as she said, "accept it," emphasizing the point, and bringing a quick gasp to Natalie's lips.