Transgressions: A Lesbian Love Story

Chapter 1-2

“Don’t worry about the money,” she replied, “and sure, we can do that.”

Linda returned to the phone call and changed the arrangement but when her father asked about Sienna she hesitated momentarily.

“She’s just a girlfriend... from work.”

“No worries,” he replied, “we’ll keep some dinner for you both.”

“I’m not sure if she wants to but I’ll certainly ask.”

She farewelled him and put the phone down.

“Thanks for that,” she glanced at the papers on the desk, “he’s um, invited you to stay for dinner but please don’t feel like you have to say yes.”

“Yes,” Sienna pushed some stapled papers across the desk to her, “I’ll stay for dinner, here, fill this out later and we’ll see if they’ll approve the personal assistant position.”

Their eyes met.

“That’s of course, if you want to apply? If not just tell me and I can shred the application later.”

“Yes,” Linda swallowed, “I thought it was just a joke.”

“It was to cover for you being in here while Kevin was here but it’s a real position. You wouldn’t be my personal assistant, you’d be answering to several people here, it’s all typing and filing, pretty mundane stuff but we do need extra staff and before we advertise externally we need to at least offer the job internally.”

Still it sounded a little like a half-baked excuse for her being in the office, but even so two of her co-workers did sound encouraging when they saw her put the papers into her handbag.

“You should go for it,” Donna commented, “God knows it’s a step up from having the guys here mentally undressing you. I mean the guys back there will do the same thing but at least they earn more money.”

The rest of the day passed without incident, indeed it seemed to go slower than normal but because she was working an extra hour, Sienna had her assigned some duties that would be hers if she got the job. It actually seemed ridiculously easy compared to a her normal routine.

“So, what do you think?” Sienna asked as they reached her car.

“It seems almost too easy.”

“Oh it gets harder, I just let you dip your toes in the shallow end tonight,” she opened the back door and drop her handbag on the seat, “if you want to hang up your jacket there’s a hook in the sill,” she pulled the jacket off her shoulders and hung it from a hook.

“It’s funny, we used to dream about living in a warm country but when you have to work in it, it’s a different matter entirely,” she pulled her hair behind her and tied it with a band.

“I’m kind of used to it, I dream about waking up to the snow.”

“Thank God I don’t have to do that here,” Sienna slid behind the wheel, “gritters, gridlock and you never seem to get warm.”

“Okay, I’ll do it,” Linda replied.

Sienna didn’t answer straight away as she fastened her seatbelt and put the key into the ignition.

“Do what?” Sienna started the engine, “get naked, get drunk or apply for the job?”

Linda caught her breath and then let it out in a rush.

“The third one, the first two sound nice but I’ve done them more than once.”

“Good choice,” she disengaged the handbrake and shifted into reverse, “so, tell me, why do you want to apply for the job?”

Linda didn’t reply at first and when she did it came out as a mumble.

“Because it sounds good.”

“You’ll need to do better than that,” Sienna replied, “Kevin might look like a good f**k but he’s married, even though he’s officially separated. He’s supposed to be going out with Karen but he’s f*****g everything in sight, behind her back. If you want the job take a word of advice and project yourself, you have a voice and an opinion that’s worth just as much as some guy’s opinion. This is about putting yourself out there. The fault of women is not that they’re not good enough for the job, we undersell ourselves,” she slowed at the exit to Burwood Highway.

“A man walks into a job knowing he’s right for the job and even if he’s missing a few vital things he’ll bullshit his arse off to convince the interviewer that he’s the man they’re looking for, it’s all bluff and bluster. A woman on the other hand tries hard not to seem too confident because men don’t like confident women, she doesn’t want to seem arrogant or proud, she’s well aware of her own shortcomings and usually admits to them as well. Women undersell themselves all the feckin’ time, men oversell themselves, so between here and Eastland, you tell me why you think you’d be the best person for the job.”

Linda closed her eyes as Sienna accelerated and as the car picked up speed she let it out.

“Because I’m tired of working where I am, I want to move up the ladder and learn more about the back office environment. I’m willing to learn, I apply myself to the task at hand, and don’t stop until I’m satisfied that the job is complete. I know my way around a computer as well, but I’m prepared to do any extra courses to come up to standard.”

She stared straight ahead as Sienna changed lanes and headed to the U-turn lane in the median strip, the other woman didn’t reply until she was ready to edge out into the lines of cars coming from the city.

“Okay, now that sounded better. To be honest the computer stuff is pretty mundane, there isn’t an awful lot of training involved there, it’s all on the job but we’ll fill this application out tonight and I’ll hand it in tomorrow.”

“Okay, thanks,” she glanced at her, “I just told the truth.”

“Point taken,” she indicated and then nudged the wheel, “but I’ll give you a few more tips tonight that will have the interviewer sitting up with interest.”

Linda’s parents lived in Ringwood North, not far from Eastland with their other two daughters, Maxine and Vera, both younger than Linda. Their father, Brian, ran a local hardware store whilst their mother, Elspeth taught part time at the local school.

“We love the Irish,” Elspeth gushed, “my mother was from Limerick, but my father was from the north, Londonderry?”

“A marriage of north and south then,” Sienna grinned, “it wouldn’t be the first time, I’ve got family in Scotland and Manchester. If a Catholic wants to marry a Protestant you go over to the mainland to settle down, otherwise you’ll wind up hated by both sides.”

“It’s such a shame to see the news on the telly,” her mother sighed.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the only topic of conversation although Sienna artfully skirted around the inevitable, “have you got a boyfriend?”

That left them time to fill in the application form but when Sienna casually mentioned that Linda was going to make her a blouse, Elspeth decided to fetch her pattern book while Linda measured her up in her old bedroom.

“I lost my virginity in this room,” she looked around.

“Who was he? Or is that a secret you’ll take to the grave?”

“Tommy,” she replied, “it was, messy,” she glanced at the door, “um, I’ll let you strip down.”

“It’s okay,” she rested a hand on the second button of her blouse, “we’re both women and I’m not that prudish, besides,” she undid the button, “you’re only going to have to come back in when I’m down to me bra and knickers,” she undid another button.

“Fair point,” she sat on the bed and then flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling while the other woman unbuttoned her blouse.

“So, what’s it like?”

“With women?” Sienna pulled the blouse out of her trousers and undid the last button.

“It’s more relaxed, we take longer to finish even if we’re in a hurry,” she inched the blouse over her shoulders, “and because there’s no c**k we get inventive,” she let the blouse fall down her back.

“Sounds, almost, erotic,” Linda glanced over as Sienna threw the blouse at her, she caught it in mid-air and Sienna grinned as she undid the belt.

“You could say that, lots of sucking, licking and touching.”

Linda didn’t reply to that as Sienna undid her trousers and let them slide down her buttocks, she felt a strange warmth as the other woman bent over slightly to work them over her feet and then she sat up slowly and looked at the door.

“Excuse me, I have to get the tape measure from mum’s sewing room,” she rose, “what the hell was I thinking?”

“I’ll just wait here,” Sienna sat on the bed.

What was she thinking? Linda mused as she went through to the sewing room. She’d had women disrobe in her bedroom more times than she could remember and they’d even slept in the same bed, so why did she feel almost aroused? The answer that came back seemed to fit but it felt trite and a little too convenient. Sienna was the first openly gay woman who’d stripped in front of her, she glanced over her shoulder as she opened the door again. Yes, that was it, she came to a stop as she saw Sienna lying on her bed with her eyes closed. She didn’t open her eyes until Linda closed the door with a quiet click.

“Sorry, long day,” she propped on her elbows, “and this bed is so feckin’ soft,” she swung her legs off the bed.

“All right, let’s do it.”

“Yeah right,” Linda grinned, “in your dreams.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with dreams,” Sienna stood up and put her hands on her hips, “let’s do this, the measuring dance. I want the whole lot, including inside leg.”

The measuring took a little more time thanks to Sienna’s off-colour remarks when she measured her inside leg.

“Stop saying higher,” she sighed, “any higher and I’ll be inside you.”

“My seven favourite words in one sentence,” she chuckled.

The door opened at the same time and Linda’s mother stepped into the room with two large pattern books.

“Almost done, are we?” Elspeth moved to the bed, “I’ve got more books in the other room if you want to see but these should be enough for now.”

“They certainly are,” Sienna grinned.

“I’ll leave you two alone then,” she retreated to the door.

Linda made as if she was going to protest but then her mother disappeared and she threw her hands in the air.

“What was all that about?” Linda murmured.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sienna picked up her clothes, “she might suspect or then again she’s just being polite.”

Linda didn’t reply to that as she started flipping through the books, she’d seen them many times in the past and she was forever collecting patterns to put in her own book but her mother had been doing this for years and it showed she finally admitted as Sienna finished buttoning the blouse.

“Some of these fashions are so old I think they’ve come full circle again,” she frowned at a picture of a woman in a patterned dress.

“Looks like something my Aunt Esmerelda would wear, although it looks better on that model than Aunt Ezzie.”

“Fine thing to say about your aunt,” she smiled crookedly, “this is a pen and ink drawing.”

“You haven’t met Aunt Ezzie,” Sienna murmured, “fire and brimstone, and three hail Marys if you so much as step out of line. When I came out to my family she was first at the door insisting ma’ take me to confession,” their eyes met.

“Ma’ hit the roof when she suggested our extended family put money in and have me sent to one of those girls reform schools in the south where they’ll beat it out of you. They made up eventually but it took a good couple of years and the death of Ezzie’s husband before they could speak without resorting to handbags at dawn.”

“So, your mother was supportive?”

“Not exactly supportive,” Sienna sat down next to her and started flipping the pages, “she was more of the don’t ask don’t tell kind, she didn’t want me to tell her about my girlfriends and she never asked either. When I came here on a gap year she cried and said she’d miss me but when I managed to get a job here she said it was probably for the best,” she stopped turning pages.

“Now that’s one I like.”

“Huh?” Linda stared at the picture of a woman in a double-breasted blouse matched with a skirt, “she must have been buying some new patterns, I quite like that myself.”

“Could you make it?”

“Let’s see,” she pulled the pattern out of the packet and shifting off the bed, laid it out, “yeah, I can do this, a bit strange having two different size sides but it’s doable.”

“But not in that striped material, a white or off-white,” she flicked at Linda’s pussybow, “that colour or close to it.”

“Silk?”

“Is there any other material? Of course it’s got to be silk, so how much?”

“Um, nothing,” she replied.

“I insist,” their eyes met.

“All right, you can pay for the material.”

“That still sounds a little too cheap,” Sienna pursed her lips.

“Then how about you tell me more about yourself, no subject is taboo.”

“Not even s*x?”

“Especially s*x,” she started folding the pattern, “I want to know it all.”

“Deal then,” she leaned back against the bedhead, “this should be interesting but now I have to use your loo.”

“Down the hall, third door on the left,” she replied, “I might hunt through this myself and see what else she’s got here, it seems my mother has found her second wind.”