Transgressions: A Lesbian Love Story

Chapter 1-3

Linda wasn’t sure what woke her in the early hours of the morning until she remembered putting the battery on charge in her laundry room. A memory rose in her mind’s eye of Sienna unbolting the terminals and lifting it out while she looked on. Was there nothing this woman couldn’t do?

“I’m one of two girls in a family of seven,” she explained as she hooked up the charger, “so I had five brothers to teach me all the things my mother wouldn’t teach me.”

“So, what’s your sister like?”

“Maureen is just like ma’ she wants to raise children but in her defence she wants a career at the same time, I said good luck with that fantasy. About the only thing men want from a woman is food and a fuck.”

“Sound like Australian men.”

“I have to agree there, it’s changing slowly but surely, there,” she stood up and flicked on a switch, “when the buzzing stops it should be okay to leave it turned on, or you can just turn it off. The only thing you need to check is that the water covers the terminals. It’s supposed to be distilled water but we always used water from the feckin’ tap, it’s free and does the same thing. Just enough to cover the terminals and no more.”

“Okay,” she picked up the half empty jug of water.

Linda padded through to the laundry and stared at the battery sitting on an old newspaper on the floor, a few moments later she flicked the switch but left the caps off. Sienna would know what to do in the morning. It was only when she returned to bed that other memories came to haunt her, the sight of Sienna undressing, the measuring session and later on their talk on the front porch. In the end it was Sienna who had to end the conversation, citing a need to get back home and have a hot shower.

Was she falling for her or could she put it down to the fact that her social calendar was so sparse it was just a relief to have someone around at all, even if she was a lesbian. That question kept her awake a little longer before she finally fell asleep.

She awoke the next morning to the ringing phone. It was Sienna on the other end of the line and she sounded annoyingly cheerful and wide awake.

“Hey, rise and shine. I’m starting at the same time, do you still want a lift?”

“Um, yeah, sure.”

“No worries, I’ll see you at the same time.”

She chose her outfit a little more carefully that morning, a high-necked blouse with a double row of buttons down the front matched with a dark blue skirt and blazer, it looked smart and professional, and it was an outfit she’d made herself. Nothing like shameless self promotion, she mused as she finished putting on her makeup.

However, it seemed as if Sienna was a little distracted as she dutifully pushed the battery caps back on. Her attire was much the same as the day before except for the blouse, today she wore a pale pink one.

“I’ve been thinking about your offer last night,” she mused a few minutes later, “I mean I can tell you all about s*x with women, as well as teach you Gaelic but I really want something else out of this besides baring my soul.”

“What do you want?” Linda felt a slight giddiness.

“I want to know how to do what you do.”

“Make clothes?”

“Yes, maybe not all of them,” she studied her, “please don’t tell me you made the suit.”

“Um, I did.”

“You had to say it,” she fiddled with the lapel, “fantastic work, but I want to learn how to make clothes, it’d give me something to do in between fighting off the women.”

“Do you have to, fight women off?”

“I wish,” she managed a crooked grin, “by the time I get home I’m too tired to think about f*****g let alone actually f**k. A party night for me is a video, a bottle of bourbon and my dildo.”

It seemed inconceivable she mused a little later at work that Sienna would be the shy retiring type, not that she’d classed herself that way but not having to fight women off and staying home at the weekends did suggest that. It was something Linda could relate to though, after breaking up with her long term boyfriend, granted she had girlfriends aplenty but they were all in relationships and whilst they invited her out she always felt a little like an added extra. Just lately it had become acutely obvious that her singleness was noticeable.

“I find myself fighting men off for no apparent reason,” she confessed to Sienna on the way back home, “I was with Tony for the better part of three years, the only reason we hadn’t moved in together was because I was at home, which is why I made the first move and put down the monthly deposit for this place.”

“And what happened?” Sienna looked across at her.

“He, well, we had a big fight. He made it seem like I’d gone behind his back and forced him into doing something, I offered to call the landlord and get it refunded but then he said he needed space and time to think things over,” she fiddled with her watch.

“Three months later he was still thinking and when I laid it on the line he said it was time we both looked elsewhere for somebody and that was the last conversation we had.”

“Where is he now?”

“Sydney, he moved in with a woman up there but that came to a big fat zero when he came out as gay and moved in with another guy. Maybe I was better off without him.”

“So, what did you learn from your experience?”

“Apart from don’t trust men?” Linda glanced at her, “to be honest I think I’ve learned not to put a lot of stock into promises in the dark, I mean we’ve all done it and at the time we don’t think of it in those terms but with hindsight I can see we were both living a lie. I had the hot boyfriend, and he had a hot girlfriend, which meant his mates wouldn’t think he was gay, even though he was actually gay all along.”

“Oh the tangled web we weave,” Sienna chuckled.

Linda merely nodded as the car came to a halt outside the house and the words were out before she could stop them.

“Do you want to come in?”

Sienna looked at her and Linda felt a slight flush.

“I mean, for dinner or a coffee at least, I need you to show me how to put the battery back into the battery thingy.”

“Battery cradle,” Sienna smiled crookedly, “all right, I’ll put the battery back into the cradle and you can cook dinner.”

“You sure it’s not putting you out?”

“Putting me out?” Sienna eased the key out of the ignition, “I was going to stop by the chicken and chip shop and grab a takeaway and you want to know if a home cooked meal is putting me out? You sure have a strange logic,” she opened the car door, “come on let’s go in, to the house.”

Linda felt slightly detached from herself as they went inside. She’d been contemplating asking her in for dinner but thought it too forward. It was different with straight women but a gay woman? Was this acceptable? Was she treading too close to the line? It felt as if she was flirting subconsciously but even so she detected no obvious body language from Sienna that it had been taken any other way but face value.

By the time the battery was hooked up she was halfway through peeling potatoes and not long after she heard the car engine turning over and glanced over her shoulder. Her ex boyfriend had been something of a failure when it came to auto repair, which explained why he found himself a gay motor mechanic. When she related that story to Sienna the other woman chuckled merrily as she washed her hands.

“Oh it takes all kinds to make a world. I’ve known big beefy men who looked very macho, right down to the tattoos and attitude but they were as camp as a row of tents, and I’ve known some quite effeminate men who were as straight as a die.”

“What about the women?”

“Oh they’re much the same, I’m a bit of a lipstick lesbian but I’ve also been accused of being a butch because I can start a fight in an empty room. Women are more fluid though, we ebb and flow with the tides,” she turned the tap off and plucked a towel from the oven door rail.

“Do you mind if I ask a personal question?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Linda looked at her.

“How did it feel when you found out your ex boyfriend was gay?”

“Oh,” she glanced down at the potato in her hand, “it was, funny in a way. I mean he wasn’t what you’d call effeminate but it explained a lot when it came to our s*x life.”

“In what way?”

“He never initiated s*x, it was always my idea and he was good in bed but I always had the feeling that he wasn’t really there, like his mind was elsewhere whilst he was going through the motions. He was a great listener though and that was probably why I ignored all the warning signs for so long. You could talk for hours and he’d just sit and listen to you, other guys I’d known before him would have been fast asleep or constantly interrupting.”

“So, maybe you would have been better off as friends?”

“Maybe so,” she started slicing the potatoes, “hindsight is always twenty twenty.”

“Famous last words,” she started drying her hands.

“My parents really like you.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Sienna raised an eyebrow.

“No, on the contrary, it’s a good thing, I was just saying,” she stopped slicing.

“What am I saying?”

“I’ve been here before,” Sienna took two steps forward and stopped beside her, “you’re nervous, unsure of yourself,” she took the knife from her and sliced through a freshly peeled potato.

“You’re wondering if something you might say to a straight woman can be taken out of context or the wrong way by a gay woman. Is she thinking I like her like that? Should I be looking at her as well or will she think I’m flirting. It’s a common misconception that women all want to be f****d by another woman.”

“s*x is fluid, like water, it ebbs and flows. The truth of the matter is I do find you attractive on a purely physical level, but by far the thing I most like about you is the fact that you invited me into your home for a meal knowing full well that I like women. You have no idea how relieved I am to find out that your parents actually like me, and yes, maybe they’d reconsider their opinion if they found out I’m gay, but right now I’m just enjoying not having to put on a performance.”

She bumped her hip against her.

“So, how about you prepare the meat and I’ll do the vegetables?”

“No worries,” she moved away from her, “I can do that but I don’t think my parents would treat you any differently if they knew your orientation.”

“Just don’t blow my own trumpet?”

“Perhaps not, at least not yet.”

“I’ll take that on advisement.”