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Mariam looked up as the front door slammed loudly.
"Mariah?" she called.
"What?" The snarled reply sent a worried chill down Mariam's spine. Getting up from her comfortably sprawled position on the sofa, she followed the sound of thundering footsteps as Mariah stormed upstairs.
Walking through the doorway, she eyed Mariah carefully. She was sitting stiffly on Mariam's double bed, her glare boring a hole in the floor.
"Why does Lee think he can judge other people?" she fumed.
Ah, right. She had been surprised at Mariah turning up for their little 'sleepover' as arranged.
"Because Lee sees you as a virgin angel, him as your righteous protector and me as a predatory lesbian?" Mariam sat down next to Mariah, who just rolled her eyes at her. Not for the first time, Mariam wished she was better at the whole 'tact' thing. "Does Ray know you're here?"
Mariah nodded, but her gaze slid to the floor again. Mariam knew that shifty look;
"You still haven't told him about you?"
Mariah shook her head.
"Even though we discussed last time how he'd understand because he's in exactly the same situation? If not worse, because of the pervasive homophobia of male het culture?"
"You lost me at the political speech last time too," Mariah muttered to the floor. "And it doesn't help Lee's opinion of you as my friend, either."
"I don't give a shit what Lee thinks of me." Ok, so, that was unnecessarily blunt, but Mariam had never claimed to be good at the whole 'tact' thing. Or, apparently, at the whole 'having a closeted girlfriend' thing.
Right. Time to take a different tack?
"I was watching - " she named a show Mariah loved - "Want to come and watch it with me?"
Mariah sighed, but she was smiling as she replied,
"Ok."
As usual, they started side by side on the sofa, like the friends they pretended to be. The program was a bland daytime show, but Mariah watched it regularly so regaled Mariam with all of the backstory she thought was necessary. Which was all of it. It wasn't Mariam's sort of thing at all.
On the other hand, the bright, open animation in Mariah's expression, with dancing eyes and flying hands, and lips that never stopped moving … that was definitely Mariam's sort of thing. The fuzzy fond feeling quickly heated up. She tried to ignore the wave of arousal and to at least pretend to look interested in what Mariah was saying. Even a month into this relationship, she was still wary of being too forward and scaring Mariah away.
000
They had met for the first time about five months ago. Hilary had had some strange idea about bringing all the girls of beyblading together. It had initially been an incredibly awkward flop of an event. Ming-Ming and Emily had sensibly declined to attend, which left Mariam stuck on her own as Mathilda, Julia and Mariah squealed over their reunion. Hilary had tried some conversation, but since their only common experience involved Mariam as mostly an adversary, it hadn't gone well.
Whoever would have thought that Queen's unexpected appearance, launching her blade straight through Hilary's carefully constructed cake, would have saved the day? For all that there was a definite air in the room that nobody actually liked Hilary, the sight of her in tears had banded them together.
Ok, so maybe the chance of revenge for a defeat that still rankled had been what drove Mariam on.
Nevertheless, the uncomfortable tension had dropped away as battle-lust took its place, and even though Queen had backed down and disappeared under the threat of four blades all pointing at her, the atmosphere stayed relatively clear.
Julia had been the first to challenge Mariam, of course. It had been a perfunctory battle, without bitbeasts and ending in a draw, but it set the pattern and their cosy little clique had broken into a crisscrossing melee of battles.
That was the first time Mariah had really caught Mariam's eye. She was so different to the others. Mathilda was sweetness and light and somewhat of a tactician. Julia was all bullish determination and undeniable strength. Mariah, however …
Mariah was fierce and wild and scrappy, and her eyes looked like they were glowing when she called out Galux. And, Mariam was always honest with herself, that hourglass figure may have played a part in the initial attraction, yes. But then, back to something slightly higher-minded, she'd melted inside when Mariah had won. Her victory face was just that cute; a grin so wide that her eyes squeezed shut and a double punch in the air.
She'd left that event with an undeniable attraction towards Mariah. However, had they not met again, it would have stayed just there. A little private fantasy for her to play until it faded.
They had met again a month later, in Hong Kong. Mariah had come to see Ray, who by some ridiculous turn of events worked at the same restaurant that Mariam had been craving food from for months. Cue meeting, and mutual recognition from both Ray and Mariah. Ray hadn't been able to stay and chat for long, so the two girls had ended up wandering to a bench and sitting and talking. Mariah was naturally very, very talkative, but it was a while before Mariam moved her replies from small-talk to slightly more personal. Once Mariah realised that they had rural, old-fashioned Chinese mountain upbringings in common … well, they hadn't left the bench for three hours, even then only shutting up because Ray was standing over them, half-glaring and half-laughing. When they'd stood up, Mariah had no feeling in her left foot, and Mariam's left bumcheek was also numb. So naturally, she had invited them back to her small flat about twenty minutes' walk away.
And then somehow this had become a weekly thing.
After three visits, she had carefully, casually, dropped it into the conversation that she was gay. Ray had gone white, then red, then gasped, "Really?"
She knew the signs. "You?"
He went red again and refused to say anything else. However, Mariah filled in the silence with all the info.
Kai. Ha, like that wasn't obvious to anyone with eyes. Ray was a surprise, though.
"I thought you two …" She trailed off and gestured vaguely. Ray snorted. Mariah sighed.
"Oh, in the Elders' wet dreams."
Despite Mariah's blasé reaction, Mariam had more than half expected her not to return, or to be awkward when she did. What she didn't expect was Mariah's curiosity on the subject.
Immediately her suspicions and her hopes were roused, but she had squashed them down again very quickly. She'd been that way before, and it led nowhere fun.
Or so she thought. In the end it was like something from a B film, or porn; they had been curled up on Mariam's sofa, passing bottles of wine between them. Mariah had started asking questions, and, tipsy, Mariam had answered them even as they went past the propriety barrier. Then Mariah had kissed her.
000
"Penny for your thoughts?" Mariam was jolted from what would have been most enjoyable memories by Mariah's foot jabbing her high on the thigh. She grabbed the offending foot and ran a finger up the arch. Mariah wriggled frantically and shrieked, "Don't you dare!" like she wasn't really enjoying it.
"Oh, my thoughts are worth more than a penny," Mariam told her. She tugged Mariah's foot until she was forced to shuffle closer.
"What are they worth, then?" Mariah asked. Her eyes were bright and intense now, having caught on to Mariam's mood. When Mariam didn't answer, Mariah leaned in and planted a soft kiss squarely on Mariam's mouth.
Well, that was a surprise. Usually Mariah was nervous about making the first move. Combine that with Mariam's aforementioned fear of frightening her off, and it generally meant a lot of pent-up … stuff.
Did you know girls can get blue balls? Mariam hadn't until she'd started this relationship. Lasting labial ache and belly cramps due to prolonged engorgement with blood. Because apparently her body didn't have the patience of her mind.
Not that her mind had a lot.
She kissed Mariah back. It was supposed to be another playful peck, but Mariah's lips parted. Automatically Mariam did the same. She slid an arm around Mariah's waist, and quivered as Mariah pulled in close, threading one arm under hers and around to rest her fingers on the base of Mariam's neck.
"Mm. Frisky today?" It was hard to speak in long sentences all of a sudden. Mariah winked and puffed a laugh, then dived back at Mariam again. It was the only decent adjective for such reckless abandon. Mariam had no idea whose tongue had emerged first in the slight fumble that followed, but there were definitely tongues. Just when she was settling in to enjoy a nice long kiss, Mariah pulled away again. She went straight for the hollow of Mariam's neck, and all of a sudden Mariah didn't give two shits why Mariah was so eager, she just wanted more of that tongue licking and probing at one of her most sensitive erogenous zones. So when Mariah tried to move back up, she grabbed the pink hair and gave it a gentle tug.
"Stay there." Just in case the message wasn't obvious.
After a little longer of that, the initial shock to her nerve endings had worn off, and though overall arousal had her hot and throbbing already, she could think in straight lines again.
Revenge! She scrabbled at Mariah's loose linen shirt and found her corresponding weak spot; a patch of exceptionally downy skin just above where her back curved out into her bottom. She crooked two fingers and stroked and pushed the area, imitating … well, she knew what she was imitating and so did Mariah, and her answering whimper made Mariam's heart race.
Mariah's shirt was easy to remove while kissing; Mariam's short summer dress, not so much.
"Did you wear this on purpose?" Mariam asked appreciatively, running her hands up and down Mariah's bare back and playing with the band of her bra.
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Mariah said, grumbling. She smacked Mariam's hands away and upwards so that she could pull off the troublesome article. The sudden emergence of Mariam's bare breasts brought her to a brief, glazed halt.
"I didn't want to wear a bra," Mariam said, just to try and kickstart her girlfriend's brain again. "The shirt has inbuilt support."
"I hate you."
"My tits hate you too, I'm sure. Don't worry, one day they'll make inbuilt support for your beach-ball freaks."
"My boobs are not beach-balls!"
"Uh huh."
"Fuck you."
"That'd be good." With that, Mariam undid Mariah's bra clasp. All teasing aside, Mariah's breasts were just magnificent.
"Well, ok." Mariah shimmied free of the straps, then, grinning in that sexy, sexy feline way, pushed Mariam until she lay on her back. This involved a lot of manoeuvring of legs and weight redistribution, and Mariah nearly fell off the sofa twice before Mariam engaged her brain again and pressed the button that made the bottom of the sofa spring up. This gave them more space, if not particularly stable space.
"We could do this in bed," she suggested half-heartedly.
"No. Here. Now." The words were muttered around the delightful things Mariah's lips and tongue and teeth were doing to Mariam's breasts, but that last word still managed to have a spine-tingling growl to it.
"Now who's the predatory lesbian?"
"Predatory bisexual, please." Mariah's hands smoothed over Mariam's stomach and thighs.
"Oh, that's a whole new kettle of fish."
Then there was a long pause. Mariam knew exactly how Mariah's brain worked by now – knew how very un-angelic she could be. "You're thinking of a fish joke, aren't you? Why? Why would you do that?"
Ooh. Giggling vibrations on nipple. Yes, please.
But the joke had kick-started her brain again and she couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into Mariah. They had only gone naked below the waist twice before and both times Mariam had been the initiator and the … driver … for current lack of a better word. And now all of a sudden she was ninety per cent naked and quite effectively pinned underneath fifty per cent naked Mariah. As hot as fuck, oh yes. But weird? Yes.
"Moving faster than usual?" she pointed out, doing her best not to squeak as Mariah's tongue probed her bellybutton. It tickled. Mariah made an agreeing noise. Again, the vibrations were rather fun. "Why?"
Mariah sat up, straddling Mariam just above the knees. "'Cause I want to. Why?"
"It's just different from before." She couldn't resist stretching up to press one of Mariah's dark, erect nipples with her thumb. In return, Mariah hooked her fingers into Mariam's knickers and pulled, forcing Mariam to arch up and let them slide or have them tear. They were one of her only matching sets; tearing was not an option. Mariah's eyes had that delicious glow of victory.
"'Cause now I know what to do." She repositioned herself further down the sofa, then (that word again) dived in.
The first hot, wet lick made Mariam instinctively try to buck her hips. Unfortunately that was impossible, as Mariah's weight was pinning her down from hip to ankle. Instead she thrashed her head from side to side and tried not to make too many incoherent noises as it continued.
Did Mariah really know what she was doing? Well, the technique was somewhat lacking in finesse, but Mariam was so turned on that she didn't care when Mariah found her clit too quickly. There was all the lubrication she would ever need right there oh, yes, Right Fucking There.
She was nearly there: gasping and panting and cursing and flailing but not too hard because that was exactly right – when Mariah's phone rang.
She didn't realise she'd grabbed Mariah's head until she felt the pink strands pulling tight in her clutching fingers.
"Don't you dare," she gasped, "don't you dare, don't you fucking dare don't you fucking move!" So Mariah stayed there for the extra thirty seconds that it took to bring Mariam into a panting, quivering pile of post-orgasmic goo on the sofa.
"If I check my phone, will you kill me?" Mariah asked, sitting up.
"Mm." Mariam shrugged. "If it's Lee, I'll kill him instead."
"Oh, it's just Ray, saying he hopes I have a good time … tonight …" She trailed off. "Uh. That sounds like he knows. About me. And. You. And. Mariam, do you think he knows?"
"Probably." Mariam yawned. "If he did it deliberately, I'll kill him too."
"How would you kill anyone at the moment? Groan at them loudly?"
"Shu'p." She squinted at Mariah, and tapped her cheek. "You've got a thing, there …" She could only hold her straight face for so long; Mariah's face was glistening from nose to chin, with odd breaks in the shine showing where she'd licked her lips. Mariah burst out laughing too, and bent down to rub her face against Mariam's stomach.
"Ew," Mariam complained, grinning. She was starting to feel up to returning the favour, possibly with interest because the lucky bitch was multi-orgasmic, but there was just one more point to be made. "Do you know I've always been cautious how strongly I come on to you, in case you got scared?"
The light in Mariah's eyes looked positively devilish. "Exactly how strongly are we talking, here?"