Chapter 2

“Yeah? Well, now you got enough for a semester at Holmes and Chandler,” Esme said. “Hey, want to go to that Full Moon Diner for lunch?”

“Ess, right now? I just want to kill you,” Kaja declared.

“So is that a yes or no on lunch?” Esme asked.

“Yes, you bitch,” Kaja huffed.

As first year students, they were expected to live on campus; never mind that both Kaja and Esme were residents of Fletcher County, Esme in Fletcher and Kaja in Iona, Maine. Much to their dismay, Esme and Kaja were not assigned to the same dorm room; they were not even on the same floor.

Dorm life was a true eye-opener for Kaja. Very quickly, she learned to differentiate between old money and new money. In general, new money bragged about having money and displayed their wealth. Old money did not discuss money. New money was stingy with their money and expected everyone to cater to them because they had money. Old money was incredibly generous and was also very considerate of others and their feelings. She learned that Esme was in the ‘Old Money’ group.

Their second year, they were allowed to live off-campus. Kaja assumed Esme would simply live in her parents’ Fletcher mansion. After all, there were twelve bedrooms, ten full baths and four half-baths, an indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a gym, a media center and other rooms Kaja had never seen despite being a frequent guest at the Neige home. Plus that, there were four servants to tend to the needs and whims of Aloys, Marta, and their only child, Esme.

Instead, Esme had bought an apartment complex in anticipation of the day they could live off-campus. She hired an interior decorator and a general contractor to perform any upgrades or modifications the interior decorator required.

Once the remodeling was completed, Esme moved herself and Kaja into the small, cozy one bedroom apartment. By now, the two friends had crossed the line from close friends to lovers. The first night Kaja had been an overnight guest at the Fletcher mansion, Esme had turned off the lights in her large bedroom, then rolled over to embrace Kaja. Kaja was used to this; from their first meeting, Esme had hugged, had kissed Kaja. This hug went on for quite a few moments. The kiss was gentle, loving.

As the kiss lingered, Kaja felt Esme gently working the hem of her sleep shirt up. Baring Kaja’s back, Esme gently raked her fingernails over Kaja’s exposed flesh.

“I love you,” Esme whispered.

“I oomph!” Kaja began then grunted as Esme worked her soft tongue into Kaja’s mouth.

“I love you,” Esme repeated.

“I, I love you too,” Kaja admitted, then broke down in tears.

Neither girl was a virgin, but this was the first time either girl had been with another girl. After Kaja’s tears were dried, the two girls removed their clothes. They bumped heads as they both bent their heads to suckle on the other’s breast. They giggled happily and did ‘Evens & Odds’ to see who could go first. They giggled again when Kaja whooped at being victorious. They kissed again and again, Kaja felt her heart overflow with love for Esme Anne Neige

Finding Esme’s hard nipple in the dark was easy. Kaja bent and captured the hard nub between her lips and softly sucked while flicking her tongue back and forth over the rubbery flesh. She could taste Esme’s lotion and soap and sweat. She lightly nipped at Esme’s nipple and Esme let out a little squeak.

Wiggling to lie on top of Esme so she could get to Esme’s other breast, Kaja brought her thatch of blonde curls to rest against Esme’s thatch of blonde curls. Instinctually, she ground her crotch against Esme’s crotch, causing both girls to moan in pleasure.

Kaja again sucked on Esme’s nipple. Again, she marveled at the taste and texture of her friend’s flesh as she pleasured Esme’s nipple.

“Oh Kaja,” Esme whispered, fingers combing through Kaja’s long blonde locks.

“I, I love you so much Ess,” Kaja blurted out.

This declaration caused Esme to wrap her arms around Kaja’s waist. The two girls rolled around on the bed, hugging one another tightly.

Somehow, they wiggled around and Kaja found her face between Esme’s thighs. She could smell her friend’s musky crotch; it was a strong, heady aroma, an intoxicating scent wafting up to her nostrils.

“Ack!” she cried out loud as she felt Esme’s soft tongue trail along her own wet folds.

She spread her legs wide for Esme’s mouth then pressed her face firmly against Esme’s blonde thicket. Using her thumbs, she opened Esme’s crotch for her tongue. The taste was a salty taste, a heady taste. Kaja used long swipes of her tongue to gather as much of Esme’s essences as she could. Then, working two fingers into her friend’s sex, Kaja found Esme’s clitoris and sucked hard on the nub while massaging Esme’s g-spot.

Esme was a squirted. She thoroughly drenched Kaja’s face and even managed to wet Kaja’s hair.

“Damn it, Ess!” Kaja hissed; she’d been milliseconds away from her own orgasm.

Scurrying from Esme’s bed, Kaja wet a thick washcloth in the bathroom sink. She then returned to the bedroom and sponged Esme’s face until Esme let out a soft moan.

“What? What happened?” Esme weakly asked.

“You passed out,” Kaja giggled, softly kissing Esme.

“You, that, that’s it. You are my soulmate,” Esme declared, kissing Kaja with a breathtaking passion.

“And you are mine,” Kaja agreed, returning Esme’s kiss.

“Good God; going hog all the hot water?” Esme teased, opening the door to the shower.

“The tank-less water heater made Esme’s statement a falsehood. Kaja rinsed the shampoo from her hair, playfully swatted Esme with her washcloth, then kissed her lover on the lips. She allowed herself to be ”forced’ against the smooth faux marble wall of the shower and they kissed again.

“It’s getting late,” Kaja reluctantly reminded Esme.

“Shit; of all the people in the world, why’d I fall in love with Miss OCD?” Esme complained.

“I don’t know,” Kaja laughed, grabbing the handle of the shower door. “But I’m glad you did.”

“Me too,” Esme agreed, fully wetting her hair.

Kaja was overly-cautious as she drove to her parents’ home. Apparently, she was too cautious for the kid behind her; he attempted to speed past her. Kaja slowed to allow the maneuver and shook her head as he had to over-correct when he drove up onto the snow drift on the shoulder of the road.

It took three trips to bring the Christmas gifts into the house; she’d bought two presents apiece for her twin brother and sister and two apiece for her parents. And Esme had bought one present each for the four Heissman family members. Sitting down for a family dinner, leftovers from the Heissman lunch, Kaja’s sixteen year old sister Lina filled Kaja’s ear with the gifts she’d received thus far. Felix, her brother was only interested in hearing about Esme; Kaja smirked at this.

After dinner Kaja helped their mother clean the wreckage of the kitchen. Again Kaja smirked; she could tell Lina, Felix, and their father Claude were bursting to open the gifts Kaja had brought with her.

“That’s a nice sweater on you,” Anne Heissman commented. “That real cashmere?”

Kaja had put some real thought into each gift; Esme had not set any dollar limit to Kaja’s purchases when she’d handed Kaja the credit card. Still, Kaja kept the gifts to under one hundred dollars apiece.

Kaja had no idea what Esme had spent on the gifts for each Heissman family member; it really was of no importance to Kaja. Just the fact that Esme cared enough to purchase gifts for Kaja’s family was enough to bring a smile to Kaja’s lips.

Apparently, though, Claude, Anne, Lina, and Felix Heissman did not share Kaja’s sentiments. They looked at the gifts, looked at one another, then glared at Kaja.

“This. Is this it?” Anne finally spoke for the family.

“What?” Kaja asked, not sure she’d heard correctly.

“You got all kind of money,” Felix accused.

“And this is all you get us?” Lina complained.

“We’re your family,” Anne reminded Kaja.

“Oh. My. God,” Kaja said.

“Where’s the keys for my new car?” Felix demanded.

“Or my new truck?” Claude spoke up, tossing aside the new heavy-duty parka Kaja had bought to replace his old, tattered parka.

“You come driving up in a brand new Odyssey…” Anne snapped.

“That, that’s not mine; its Esme’s,” Kaja reminded her family.

Kaja left the house, still too stunned to react. Twenty miles down the road, the first tear trickled down. Arriving at their apartment building, Kaja was sobbing broken-heartedly. Looking around, she saw that Esme’s BMW was not in front of the building.

Marta opened the door of the Fletcher mansion and hugged the wailing Kaja. A moment later, Kaja was in a sandwich; Esme on one side, Marta on the other. Lucia brought the grieving girl a hot toddy and Kaja mumbled her thanks.

“Merry Christmas,” the Latina smiled. “And thank you for my sweater and scarf; how did you know blue is my all-time favorite color?”

Kaja shot a look at Esme, who was looking very innocent. Kaja felt a giggle bubble up as she smiled at the servant.

“Honestly? I took a lucky guess,” Kaja stated.

“Thank you for the fudge,” Marta said. “But you really shouldn’t have. Four? Four different flavors? I’m going to be as big as a house!”

“No one said you have to eat it,” Kaja smiled, taking another gulp of the potent hot toddy.

She had loved making each batch of the fudge. Esme had loved testing each flavor. The cut crystal dish with heavy crystal lid had been the perfect receptacle for the home made candy.

“Oh? But that, it would just be rude of me not to,” Marta smiled.

“Just how many bottles of rum did it take for you to make all of those rum balls?” Aloyse asked, indicating the very large crystal container which held several dozen hand-formed rum balls.

“Not as many as Esme drank,” Kaja blabbed.

“Two! I only had two, um, three. I only had three drinks,” Esme defended.

“And we have some gifts for you dear girl,” Marta cheerfully said. “Would you like another hot toddy?

Kaja suddenly remembered; there had been no gifts under the tree. There had been no gifts piled next to her chair as her family tore into the gifts she and Esme had given to the Heissman brood.

“Yes,” Kaja agreed, holding up her empty glass.

Marta had put much thought into the four gifts she’d bought for Kaja. She had, of course, put the name of ‘Santa Claus’ on each box. And Aloyse did accept the hug of thanks from Kaja, even though he’d had no hand in selecting or purchasing or wrapping any of the gifts.

After three hot toddies, Kaja was too drunk to drive, so she and Esme retired to Esme’s old bedroom. Since they were almost identical in size, Kaja just borrowed one of Esme’s old nightshirts and crawled into bed.

In the morning, Lucia prepared egg nog French toast for the four family members. As Kaja bundled into her coat, Marta softly kissed the girl’s cheek.

“You, you will always be welcome here, Sweetheart,” Marta whispered to the girl.

“Hmm? Oh, oh yes, of course, Aloyse agreed absently.

“Merry Christmas,” Kaja said again, lugging her brand new telescope to her car.

“Remember, if you discover a new star? You have to name it after me,” Marta joked.

Home again, Kaja set about planning their Spring Break vacation. She ignored Esme’s taunts about being OCD as she flipped through destination site after destination site. Finally she looked up from her trusty old laptop computer.

“All right. These guys you want to fuck? What kind of guys are we looking for?” Kaja asked, looking to see if the coffee machine might be on.

“Uh? The kind with a cock?” Esme sneered, looking up from her IPad. “This book? From James Roberts Taylor? Um, oh, ‘The Amorous Annette Campion;’ is wild.”

“Yes, yes, the kind with a cock,” Kaja agreed, stirring the raw sugar into her mug of coffee. “But do we want white? Black? Brown?”

“Ew. Not black, all right?” Esme said. “I mean, might be kind of racist of me but really? I just don’t find them all that attractive, you know?”

“See? I’m telling you; that word is so overused. Racist. It doesn’t even have any meaning anymore,” Kaja said, using the computer’s touch screen to eliminate the Avignon Island from the choices. “You said you’re not attracted to them. Well, I’m not all that attracted to guys with a bunch of tattoos. Does that make me racist? No. It just means I don’t particularly find tattoos very appealing. Now, someone like Jimmy?”

“Arneaux?” Esme squealed. “With that long blond hair?”

“Yes! Even with his stupid shark tattoo,” Kaja squealed. “So where could we find a bunch of blond boys?”

“Blond Boyland?” Esme suggested, returning her attention to her novel.

“I’m looking, I’m looking,” Kaja said, rapidly typing on the small keyboard.

“Nyrsol? In the middle of the North Sea? Seriously, Kaja? An island in the middle of the North Sea?” Esme complained as they boarded the small jet that would take them from Fletcher Municipal Airport to the country of Tutite.