Her first lesbian experience didn't start out to be a lesbian experience. In fact, Autumn Holcomb didn't even know she was a lesbian, though she suspected it. Never lacking for male attention, she dated boys through high school. Nobody steady, just various boys who asked her out, and lots of them did. When you're a girl, and a pretty girl at that, and the ratio of girls to boys is sixty-forty, you get lots of attention. Even "average" looking girls at Brentwood Prep never lacked for male suitors, so it made sense that girls like Autumn, who people said could be Miranda Lambert's twin sister, didn't worry about where their next date was coming from.
Autumn didn't worry, nor did she care. Her concern was her lackluster feeling when it came to boys, good-looking boys with personalities and brains to match. They drew her attentionโsort of. Rick Poston was a perfect example, six-one, hard-bodied, student-athlete Rick, a lacrosse standout at Brentwood, class treasurer, most likely to succeed, et al. Autumn accepted his invite to senior prom, even made out with him on her parents' sofa afterward. However, what should have been thrilling just wasn't. When her envious girlfriends asked her how things went, she shrugged and said, "Okay. Par for the course, I guess."
In short, her experience with Rick wasn't much different than her experience with other boys she'd been out with. Was she a lesbian? She couldn't help but wonder.
The thought had entered her mind back in middle school. It so pained her to think about it that she tried to repress itโno easy task when you're a budding beauty with a budding curiosity about other budding beauties. For her, sleepovers with some of her tween girlfriends were as much fun as they were frustrating. She played the game, swooning over some boy in their class or celeb heartthrob. Meanwhile, she had her own heartthrob, and it wasn't a boy.
Relax, this could just be a passing phase, she'd say to placate her angst. Socially, she soldiered on through high school, accepting invites from boys, hoping her passing phase would one day pass. It didn't. In fact, it became more difficult to repress when she roomed on campus for her freshman year at Adelphi, a small liberal arts college. It's all she could do to avert her eyes away from the girls on her floor, all those bodies, hot and naked and off limits to her. If there was one that thought the way she did, she didn't know her.
Then, weeks after school began, while standing in the cafeteria chow line, the girl next to her posed a question: "Did anybody ever tell you that you look like Miranda Lambert?"
Autumn responded with her usual retort: "Yes. Now, if only I could sing like her."
'What a beauty,' Autumn, thought, taking in the girl's dark brown eyes, high cheekbones and full lips. Her skin, the color of light mocha, looked velvety smooth. Her hair, dark brown and straight, dropped to her lower back. She had that dark "ethnic" look, a sharp contrast to Autumn's blond Anglo-Saxon phenotype.
"Are you a Miranda Lambert fan?" Autumn asked.
"I am," the girl said. "Besides having a great voice, she's very beautiful. Don't you think?"
Autumn nodded, then introduced herself.
"Leilani Cuddie," the girl said.
"That's an unusual name."
"My dad's English, my mom's Hawaiian. Obviously my genes favor my mom's side."
"Obviously. So you're Anglo-Polynesian. That's so cool." Autumn kept to herself what she was thinking, that Cuddie sounded to her ears like...cunt. If she had any doubt about her sexual orientation up to this point, she was starting to lose it in light of what she was feeling in front of this gorgeous Anglo-Polynesian.
Deciding to eat together, they took their trays and grabbed a table for two against a wall. They lived in different dorms on the same quad. Neither girl had yet to declare a major. Over a lunch of tuna sandwiches and fruit, they discussed school, what they liked and didn't like, where they might be headed academically. Minutes into their talk, a male student stopped by their table to say hello to Leilani. He was tall and blond, with stereotypical surfer good looks. Autumn watched as the guy asked Leilani when she was going out with him. Leilani parried his advance with a good-natured shrug-off.
"Wow, he's some piece of eye candy!" Autumn gushed when he moved on. "You must not go for beach boy types."
Leilani shrugged. "Gabe's on the wrestling team. He's been calling me for weeks. But, I don't know. He's great looking, athletic and all that, but dating isn't on my agenda right now. It'll distract me from school."
Autumn nodded. "So what do you do for fun?"
"Right now, not much save for attending an occasional rock concert and going on Facebook." She frowned wistfully. "I lead a rather boring life."
"I can relate," Autumn said. "Maybe what we both need is a little spice, a diversion from our academic grind."
Leilani smiled. "Hmm...a little spice would be great. However, I've yet to find anything that exciting on campus. Any ideas?"
Autumn had ideas, all right, but she hardly knew this girl long enough to voice them. "Um, not on the tip of my tongue." She blushed knowing that what she just said carried implications beyond a simple figure of speech. At least in her mind, it did. She caught herself staring at Leilani's boobs, then quickly looked away.
Leilani hooked a finger inside the top of her low-cut blouse, and tugged it down a couple inches. "Well, if you can think of anything, I'm open to suggestions." She batted her long eyelashes.
Did this girl like girls, too? Autumn needed to feel her out, first metaphorically, then..."It's healthy to be open to new ideas, new things one's never before tried but kind of wanted to. Know what I'm saying?"
"I do, I do. Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine." Leilani flashed a devilish look before biting into her peach. She sucked and licked at the innards, slowly, purposely.
Autumn watched her newfound friend draw the nectar into her sensual mouth, licking her lips, puckering up, consuming the fruit as if it was the last peach on earth. She found herself spreading her legs under the table, then running a finger over her crotch. "Looks like you're really into that peach."
"It's delicious, and I believe in savoring delicious things." Again, that devilish look. "So, tell me about some of these new things you'd like to try."