Swing

This two-part story follows from several earlier ones. You can find my recommended reading order at

my author page

. If you're starting here, that's fine, I hope the story stands alone.

If you do want to know more about background, this story is mostly dependent on

Mentor

, though of course that's dependent on earlier stories - see the recommended reading order. It also contains heavy spoilers for Mentor, since it's set two years after the end of that story.

This is one of a set of linked stories. Part 1 overlaps with

Spa Day

. Part 2 overlaps with the remaining three stories (not yet posted).

Special thanks to

THBGato

for some major effort improving several aspects of this story.

~~~~~

Wedding Dances

Chapter 1 - Swing

The hot tub was just what Allison needed.

Being maid of honor to her best friend, Anita, had been exciting, but also stressful. She deserved the chance to soak. While Tiff - maid of honor to Kayla, Anita's fiancée, and Allison's counterpart - had put most of the effort into the spa day, Allison had taken more responsibility for the wedding itself, and there were still several stressful weeks ahead when disaster could strike.

She didn't think it would. Anita and Kayla had opted for a simple wedding just outside the city, and Tiff would help her stay on top of events. Allison would have hated to have handled a destination wedding, or a large group. She'd been a bridesmaid to another friend, and the maid of honor had become a husk of her initially ebullient self. Of course, the best man hadn't done a damn thing to help, which wouldn't be an issue here.

Sharing maid of honor duties with Tiff had been great. Tiff was enthusiastic and capable and she would take anything Allison offloaded without complaint. She was funny, and a pleasure to work with, if also an outrageous flirt, but she could be tough with vendors when she needed to be. That had surprised Allison. She'd negotiated a far better deal on this spa package than they'd been led to expect would be possible.

So an all-girl wedding had some benefits. But, as a straight girl in a lesbian wedding party, she found it also had its downsides.

Almost everyone in the group was part of a couple, so it was hard not to feel like a third wheel if she hung out with her friends. In the bridal party were the brides, Anita and Kayla, of course, Margot and Heather, Anita's bridesmaids, who were engaged, Tiff, Kayla's maid of honor whose partner Emma would be standing for Anita, and Kayla's friend Alex and her cousin Tara, who were both unattached (as far as Allison knew) but who also weren't present. Alex lived on the other side of the country; one of the Carolinas, she believed, and Tara was working on high school finals.

Of the four attendees who were not in the wedding party, Hannah and Nyssa were a couple, Diana was a gaming friend of both brides, but Allison had barely met her, and she'd never met Monica, Heather's aunt. Monica wasn't even a wedding guest, but when Kayla had learned that Heather was reconnecting to her family, she suggested that she invite her.

Allison had had issues with Kayla in the past, and even now she thought her best friend's fiancée could be self-centered, but she had a good heart.

Still, in the whole group that left two unattached women, neither of whom she knew well enough to consider a friend.

So yeah, she was enjoying herself, but it was a more solo time for her than for her friends, and with the constant reminder that she had upcoming responsibilities, more stressful. She had a tendency to imagine dire consequences, and without a partner to distract her, it felt good to let the hot tub soak away some of her worries. Her eyes were closed, and she'd slid off the ledge, deep enough almost to be floating, water churning around her body, relaxing...

"May I join you?"

Allison opened one eye, expecting to see one of the women she knew. Instead, the speaker was a young woman whom she didn't recognize. Medium height, bright blue bikini, lightly tanned skin, round sunglasses, and dark hair in some kind of tuck. With a single half-lidded eye, Allison couldn't determine any more than that. Could it be Heather's aunt, perhaps? She didn't seem old enough to be the aunt of a twenty-five year old, but it wasn't impossible.

"Of course," she said, retreating slightly against the wall. She'd been taking up too much of the hot tub for others to be comfortable. She reached behind her for her own sunglasses. With them in place, she looked up at her visitor. "I'm pretty sure the hot tubs aren't single-occupancy, even if I'm being a hog."

The woman smiled at her, then set down her drink. It looked like a mimosa, the same as Allison's. She lowered herself into the water. "God, that feels good."

"Doesn't it, though?" Allison agreed.

"Are you with the other wedding party?" the woman asked.

"Unless your name is Monica, I guess so. One of the others. I think there are three."

"The, uh, all-girl one?"

"That's the one," Allison said. "Anita and Kayla. Anita's my best friend."

"I'd heard there was a big party of lesbians," the woman said.

Allison chuckled. "There is. And you found the only straight girl in the wedding party."

"Well, poo," the woman said, but grinned. "That's fine. I don't have to hit on every good looking girl I meet."

"Just most?" Allison offered. "Though if you're including me in that category, I'm flattered. I'm Allison."

"Natalia," the woman said. "Nice to meet you, Allison." She reached around to pick up her glass, saluting Allison with it. "It's good to meet a straight someone who doesn't run screaming from the gay."

"That's me," Allison said. "I have more girlfriends - in the generic meaning of the term, that is - than guy friends, and a significant number of them are gay. The rest of the wedding party is, as I said, at least the ones who could be here. I've gotta say, though, having a bachelorette where most of the attendees are partnered up seems weird. At any other wedding I've been to, it's the last chance for the main characters to party independently. Where are the male strippers? Where are the

female

strippers, for this wedding, I guess?"

"Would you want that?" Natalia asked.

Allison lifted a hand, slanting it left and right. "Eh... I'm the only one who'd be interested in guys, anyway. But the singles party dynamic? Yeah, kinda. We all like spa days, though."

"Were you local? College, I mean. Is that why you have so many lesbian friends?" Natalia asked.

"Yeah, and I guess so," Allison said. "I know most of them from university friend groups."

Natalia sighed. "I was out of state. College is a great place to meet girls. The real world, not so much."

"So what do you do when you're not hitting on girls, Natalia?" Allison asked.

"Oh, just the usual. Hang gliding, ziplining, parachute drops, mountain climbing, skiing, lion taming, olympic sprinting...."

"Is

any

of that true?" Allison asked.

"No." Natalia laughed. "They look good on a Tinder profile. And if she doesn't challenge the lion taming, you know she hasn't paid attention."

"You do a lot of Tinder dating?"

"I've been on one or two. Nothing ultimately successful, or even particularly rewarding."

"So what

do

you do when you're not taming lions or going on Tinder dates?" Allison asked.

"Walking, reading," Natalia replied. "Bike riding. Bicycle, I mean, not Harley." She grinned wickedly. "I'd rather ride Harley than ride

a

Harley. Ballroom dancing. I used to sail on the lake when I lived with my parents. They had a small sailboat. Maybe when I'm rich and famous I'll take that up again."

"Would you need to be famous?"

"Hmm. Good point. Just rich, really. I'll skip getting famous. Famous people are always in trouble for something or other anyway." She tilted her head, glancing at Allison over the top of her sunglasses for a moment. Her eyes were brown and merry.

"I used Tinder a couple of times before I met my ex. I seriously hope it's better for lesbians than for us straight folks. At least you don't get inundated with dick pics."

"Oh, how innocent the straight girl is," Natalia said, with a chuckle. "Sure we do. Didn't you know that the right dick will turn any girl straight? And then it's guys pretending to be women, catfishing, and couples wanting threesomes. Is there a current Mr. Allison, or is the ex the latest?"

"You work as an interrogator, don't you? You're with the Eff. Bee. Eye."

"Bzzt," said Natalia. "The ex?"

"He's still the most recent," Allison said. "I dumped him over this wedding, in fact. At Christmas. He started acting like lesbians were plague bearers. My

best friend

, the bride, is gay, and he's met her a couple of dozen times. I guess he was always uncomfortable. The wedding ramped that up."

"Ouch," Natalia said. "Good on you for not letting prejudice slip past."

"Yeah, I

could

have ignored his complaints and just done my own thing," Allison said. "I don't have to have perfect harmony with a partner. But that's a pretty fundamental disconnect."

"Yeah, it is," Natalia agreed. She picked up her mimosa and stared at the dregs. "Lunch soon, right? Oh, hey, do you want to partner up for a couples massage after lunch? No implication, it's just more fun to have a partner than solo. Or do you have other things you need to do?"

"Honestly, the reason I'm at a bit of a loose end is I don't have anyone to partner up

with

, so that sounds great. Just know that you're not getting into my panties."

Natalia sighed theatrically. "Not gonna lie, if that was an option, I'd choose you like a pikachu, but I can recognize that not everyone's on the same page as me. Unlike your ex, I guess." She climbed out of the hot tub, an exaggerated sway to her hips as she walked away, dripping water onto the concrete. Allison chuckled.

~~~~~

After drying, Allison slipped into her lightweight sundress, then went to find lunch, running into the rest of the bridal party. She told them of her meeting with a lesbian from a straight wedding party, saying she'd have to introduce them later. She finally had the chance to meet Monica, who was older than the rest of the party, but seemed very comfortable with them.

Not sure when she was supposed to meet Natalia for the massage session, and having no way to contact her, she wandered around, hoping she'd run into the girl. She finally found her at the end of a hallway, examining a display of leaflets.

Natalia looked up as she approached, giving Allison a warm smile.

"I didn't know when we were going to get together," Allison said.

"Huh. I was just thinking we'd magically know when to show up, I guess," said Natalia. "That wasn't very smart, was it?"

"I didn't challenge you on it," said Allison. "Scheduling didn't seem a thing that was needed."

"Then why don't we..." Natalia's eyes opened wide at something over Allison's shoulder. "Oh, fuck," she said. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." Then with a panicked expression, she said, "Kiss me. Now. Quickly."

"What the f..." began Allison.

"Pretend!" Natalia said, insistently. "Just a peck. I'll explain later. I'll owe you big time. Play along, okay?"

How do you turn down someone in such dire apparent peril? She touched her lips to the girl's, relieved to find that Natalia backed away quickly, a smile on her face that must have been fake, but that looked convincing. She took Allison's hand in her own as she looked up.

"Oh, hey, Mrs. Johnson!" she exclaimed. "I didn't know you were going to be here!"

"It's Dawn, dear, I know I've told you," the woman said. She was medium height, sturdily built, with steel gray curls. Something about her eyes told Allison that she was a formidable person. "I didn't want my Mia getting into anything unsavory. You know how these bridal parties can be."

A girl trailed in the formidable person's wake. This must be her Mia.

"Oh, Mrs. Johnson, you know we'd never organize anything like that."

"I always say, you can't be too careful, dear." Dawn turned to fix Allison with her grey-blue eyes. Allison felt like a bug on the sidewalk, wondering whether Dawn was going to step on her. "And who's this? I don't recognize you, dear. Are you one of Caroline's friends?"

"This is my

friend

Allison, Mrs. Johnson," said Natalia, with just the right amount of emphasis to imply that she was something more. "She's part of a different wedding. It seems we scheduled our spa days at the same time. Isn't that great?"

"Isn't it, though," said Dawn, with more than a hint of suspicion, but seeming not to know what to be suspicious about.

"You remember I mentioned Mrs. Johnson," Natalia said to Allison. With a quick, hard squeeze of her fingers, she said, "She's Noah's mom."

"Oh, right. Of course. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Johnson," Allison said, her fingers feeling bruised. Noah, she suspected, was the groom, which would make Caroline the bride.

"It's Dawn, dear," said Dawn. "You

will

be joining us for dinner, won't you?"

The flash of panic in Natalia's eyes suggested she hadn't foreseen this. "She has her own party, Mrs. Johnson. I can't keep her away too long."

"Nonsense," scoffed Dawn. "They must see her all the time," she insisted. "It will be good for her to meet more of your friends, and for Mia to be around more..." her voice dropped conspiratorially, "gay people. And there will be dancing! You must know how good a dancer Natalia is if you're her..." her voice dropped again, "girlfriend."

Oh, dear God, what had Allison gotten herself into?

"Yes, we all plan to be at the dance," said Allison.

"Will there be any other...

lesbians

?" Dawn asked, the last word a whisper.

"Most of the party, ma'am. The two brides, for a start."

Dawn's eyes became wide. "You must introduce Mia to them! Perhaps some of them are around now?"

"We have to go, Mrs. Johnson. We have massages booked. But we..." she gave Allison a nervous glance, "will see you both this evening."

"Alright then." Dawn gave them a dubious stare, then left, towing Mia behind her.

When the woman had left the hallway, Natalia released Allison's hand, slumping against the nearest wall. "Oh, crap, what have I done?" she asked. "I panicked. I thought if she thought I had a girlfriend she'd leave me alone. Instead I've dragged you into her orbit."

"Natalia... dearest

girlfriend

," said Allison, "my

love

, will you please tell me what the

fuck

is going on?"

Natalia hid her face in her hands. "Let's go get a drink. We may need more than one, today. And get our names down for a massage."

~~~~~

They sat outside, close to the pool. They were scheduled for a pre-massage hot tub session in thirty minutes, table in an hour.

"Start talking, doll," Allison drawled.

"Dawn is Noah's mom. Noah's marrying Caroline. I'm one of Caroline's bridesmaids," Natalia said, in a rush.

"I had that much figured out," Allison said.

"Dawn is the most overbearing person I know," said Natalia. "Her daughter Mia came out a few months ago. The good news is Dawn isn't a homophobe, even if she's awkward around

lesbians

." She whispered the word as Dawn would, making air quotes. "The bad news is that Momma Dawn is going to see to it that Mia finds a girlfriend, if she has to hunt one down and tie her up herself. I've barely escaped being her target before. I avoid her, always. I really didn't think she would be here. This is Caroline's bachelorette, and Dawn is

not

in the bridal party. Nor is Mia. When I saw her, I figured I could sidestep her matchmaking by having a girlfriend at the ready."

"Maybe with fifteen minutes prep you could have found something better," Allison said. "Maybe with fifteen

seconds

thought, you might have realized

anything

would have been better." She grinned at Natalia, who wouldn't have seen, because she had her hands over her face. "It's okay, you know," Allison continued. "I'm enjoying this."

"What? Why?" Natalia dropped her hands.

Allison took a sip of her drink and grinned again. "I'm seeing this tough-talking lesbian Lothario, lion tamer, Tinder dater, choose you like a Pikachu - that was pretty good, by the way - reduced to a nervous wreck,

just because you don't want to date her daughter

!"

"I'm not a nervous wreck!" Natalia objected. "I'm distraught because I dragged you into this! I thought it would be oh, look, she has a girlfriend, they just kissed, she won't be interested in my little girl, and instead you now have a whole girlfriend part to play. And you're straight!"

Allison bit her lip. The situation really was amusing. "

Are

you a good dancer? I meant to follow up on that when you mentioned dancing earlier."

Natalia was clearly surprised at the change of topic. "I am. Very."

"So am I," said Allison. "I did local competitive dance as a teen. I

love

dancing. I've even danced with girls before, since there are always more girls than boys in teen groups, and I've been helping one of the brides with her salsa. This might be fun. Can you lead?"

"

Honey

," Natalia's tone was acerbic, "I'm gay."

~~~~~

The massage was, not to overstate the facts, wonderful. Allison felt like a new person after it. She and Natalia had chatted in the hot tub, then tried to continue their conversation through the massage, but the enforced relaxation made it hard to focus, while the massage therapist's hands beat and squeezed the tension out of her. She was even looking forward to the challenge of playing Natalia's fake girlfriend at dinner.

"You know," she said, surfacing from her stupor for a moment, "you

are

going to owe me big time for this. Big. Time."

"I know," came a subdued voice from the other table. "I know."

~~~~~

After the massage, they slouched in lounge chairs in the sun, with water bottles to rehydrate.

"Looks like you just did the same as us."

Allison looked up to see Anita grinning down at her. She and her fiancée were in swimsuits, carrying water bottles. "Couples massage?" she asked.

"Yeah. You did couples, too? Who with?" Anita asked, eyebrows raised.

Allison waved her water bottle toward the girl in the next chair, who was looking up at the pair. "It seems I found a girlfriend. I didn't even know I was looking for one. Natalia, my love, this is my best friend, Anita, and her soon-to-be wife, Kayla."

"You're not going to let it rest, are you?" came the girl's exasperated voice.

"I'm not," Allison agreed. "I'm enjoying making my girlfriend squirm. Isn't that something you lesbians like to do?"

As Anita and Kayla settled into their own chairs, she outlined the situation. "Having met Dawn, though, I can't say I wouldn't have wanted to do the same in Natalia's place."

"Is her daughter such a problem?" Kayla asked. "Maybe go out with her a couple of times, break up before she has time to get attached, tell her mom it didn't work out?"

"Oh, God, no." Natalia rolled to face them. "Dawn would have us married within the year."

"If she's really so overbearing, what about your friend, the bride?" Kayla asked. "She's marrying a man with issues."

Natalia shook her head. "Noah's great," she said. "He can handle his mother. They're not close. If it weren't for Mia, he might cut contact entirely."

"Poor girl," said Anita. "I can relate."