This is story has many chapters and each builds on the previous one. It also exists in the same world as my stories Out of Bounds and It Isn't Just an Orgy. While Rachel is a somewhat minor character, in a way it is as important to her story as It Isn't Just an Orgy is for Isabel. At the end of Threading The Needle, it will be time to finish Isabel and Rachel's story. First, however, I have to tell Marika and Liz's stories, as well as Winnie's, Lena's, Indigo's, and a number of others. I hope you enjoy it and come to love the characters like I do.
Threading the Needle
Chapter 1
Rain beat down hard on the window of Marika's car as she pulled into the parking lot. She sighed as she looked at the clock. "Damn Seattle drivers. Every time it rains, it's like the first time they are driving on wet pavement," she thought. Being on time was a thing for her. Getting out of the car, she sprinted across the parking lot to the restaurant. As she pushed open the door, Marika looked around. The restaurant was busy with almost no tables empty.
The hostess gave her a smile as Marika stepped inside. "Welcome to Olympus," she said. "Do you have a reservation?"
"Yeah, it's two for Marika. My friend may already be here. I'm running a few minutes late," Marika replied. She waited as the hostess checked the computer.
"Oh yes, she got here a little while ago. Let me take you to the table," the hostess turned and started walking towards the back of the restaurant. Marika followed closely behind. As she turned the corner, she saw the woman she was meeting sitting at a table for two. The blonde looked up and smiled. As always, it was a great smile. It lit up her whole face.
"Hey, Elizabeth. Sorry that I'm late. People were idiots on the road," Marika said as she sat down.
"No big deal, Rikki. I don't have a job to get to, and you are a manager so it doesn't matter when you get back," the blonde replied with a laugh. They had known each other for years and she knew about the time zone fetish. "And how hard is it to call me Liz like everyone else who knows me?" she asked. "Even my Dad finally broke down."
"When you stop calling me Rikki, I will start calling you Liz," Marika responded. Just like Liz, she had a big grin on her face. It was a long-standing argument. They had never changed what they called each other, even as they both started to go by different versions of their names.
For both of them, changing their names mirrored the changes each of them had been through in her life. During high school, Rikki had been the wild one. She consistently got into trouble, barely avoiding being kicked out of school twice. There was a string of boyfriends, to the point where she had quite a reputation as a slut. She also partied pretty heavily. Elizabeth was her wingman all the way through school. If it had not been for her, Rikki would have gotten into a lot more trouble. As the generally sober one, Elizabeth made sure Rikki never got into a car drunk or with a drunk guy. On more than one occasion, she intervened to stop a guy from taking advantage of Rikki when she was drunk or high. Elizabeth dated a little, mostly for major events like prom; but as far as anyone knew, she never put out. Her focus was mostly on school and athletics. An honor student, she also was the star of both the cross-country team and the track team.
The two of them were constantly together. Despite Elizabeth's parents being concerned about her wild friend, nothing kept them apart for long. There were no secrets between them. During her senior year when Rikki got pregnant, Elizabeth was the only person she told other than the boy. Elizabeth was the one who took Rikki to have the abortion. She never left Rikki's side, holding her hand the whole time, and then taking care of her for the next couple of days while they had a "sleepover" for the weekend.
The toughest point in their friendship came when Liz finally got up the nerve to come out to Rikki. Her biggest fear was that it would drive a wedge between them. She did not want to lose her closest friend. As Elizabeth struggled with finding a way to tell her, it affected their friendship and they had a series of fights over little things. Finally, Rikki demanded to know why she was being such a bitch. Fighting off her first instinct of lashing back, she broke down and started crying. Through her tears, she told Rikki that she was afraid of telling her that she was gay. It was a moment that sealed their friendship forever.
Taking Elizabeth in her arms, Rikki gave a long hug. "You big dope," she told Elizabeth. "I kind of figured. It doesn't matter to me. You are my best friend. I love you, no matter what." She paused a second and then added, "You know, sisterly love, not the other kind."
It was several years later, when Elizabeth was becoming Liz, that she realized that was the moment when she fell in love with Rikki. Up until that point, she had resisted looking at her friend in any way sexual. Even as her interest in women became more apparent, she did not look at Rikki that way. In hindsight, that was hard for Liz to understand. Rikki was gorgeous. She had long brown hair that curled around her face, perfectly framing her face. Her big eyes were a light brown that sparked when her full lips smiled. She had a cute nose and high cheekbones with an olive complexion that made her look tanned even on a mid-winter day in Seattle. Her figure in high school had been amazing with beautiful C cup breasts. Now that she was thirty and a mother, she was a little more curvy but still gorgeous and fit. Her breasts grew some with nursing and were now ample D cups, which went perfect with her slightly wider hips.
Nevertheless, it wasn't her looks that made Elizabeth fall in love with her. Instead, it was the way Rikki instantly accepted and supported her. Elizabeth could not imagine anyone who could make her feel better than Rikki. As time went on, Rikki's attractiveness started to contribute more and more to the strength of her feelings. It became a low burning desire that Elizabeth carried secretly for her friend. Elizabeth being a lesbian never bothered Rikki, in part because she was so completely straight in her own orientation. While she slept around a lot, they were all guys. The fear that Rikki would discover her feelings was something that Elizabeth carried around with her all the time. For the most part, it wasn't noticeable; although a few of her lesbian friends figured it out. No one ever brought it up. More than one of them had carried secret crushes for straight girlfriends that they hoped would fade away.
Graduation was a big deal for the two of them. Rikki's grades were bad enough that she did not get into any of the four-year colleges she wanted. It was also a wakeup call for her. Looking forward, she saw doing any of the things that she wanted to would take more than a high school degree. Enrolling in a community college, she knuckled down and worked her ass off to get the best grades possible. It surprised her how well she did when she tried. She made the Dean's List five out of her six quarters in community college. Dating became much more of a rarity and she practically gave up partying.
For Elizabeth, it was almost the opposite. She moved into the dorms at the University of Washington. Even though it was not far from home, it was the first time being away. It was an exposure to a much more diverse world, especially sexually. In high school, she stayed in the closet. She went out with a couple of girls from other high schools; and while she had sex with them, it was relatively restrained and infrequent. In the dorms and in campus, it seemed like there was no end to the women interested in the cute blue-eyed athletic freshman. It did not take her long to go from innocent inexperienced Elizabeth to confident experienced Liz. After a while, she could pick up almost any woman that she wanted; except the only one that she really wanted.
School, on the other hand, stopped being as much of an interest. That she did as well as she did during her first quarter was mostly due to all the advanced classes from high school. She did not study nearly enough. As time came to register for winter quarter, she dropped a bombshell on her parents, two actually. She came out to them and at the same time announced that she was going to skip that quarter. Always a great skier, she got a job as an instructor at one of the local resorts. It would give her a pass and enough money to cover her expenses, especially since there were a couple of other instructors who were looking for a roommate.
In some ways, it was the perfect timing. Her parents were so worked up over her dropping out for a quarter that coming out seemed like less of an issue. It was not as if they were particularly surprised. Both of them had guessed it and tried to let her know that they would be supportive. They argued vehemently that she stay in school, but in the end, it was her decision.
"I don't want to waste your money when my heart and my head aren't into school. I'll just take this quarter to get this out of my system and be back after skiing ends," Liz told them. Only by the time the deadline came to register for spring quarter, she had discovered something new to distract her.
One of the other ski instructors was a raft guide during the spring and summer. It only took Liz one trip to get hooked and she joined guide training. One thing led to another and she never went back to school. She picked up cabinet making skills to help with meeting expenses during the off seasons, but she preferred to live as a ski and rafting bum. Eleven years later, she was one of the more experienced guides around the state. For much of it, she guided for just one company, Washington Whitewater. She was one of the people that the owner, Weston, looked to for leadership.
