Chapter 2

Zoe took a deep breath, and did her best imitation of the woman’s voice.

“…’Oh, HELL, no.'”

Lizzy-Beth’s face washed in grave concern.

“I know, right?!” Zoe abruptly snapped. “And I’m like…did I hear you right, lady?? Well, I didn’t say that, but…I said, you don’t like it? And she…” Zoe started breathing heavy again, reliving the scariness of the moment. “Well…she said a bunch of stuff I really don’t wanna repeat…lot of very…colorful language, and…so, she demands I fix it! And I’m like, fix…fix what??! You look incredible! I’m like, to all the girls, doesn’t she? And they all start agreeing with me, complimenting her like crazy! But she’s not having any of it. She gets up and leaves, and she refuses to pay me, Lizzy. Not only does she refuse to pay me, she goes, ‘You’ll be lucky if I don’t sue your ass!'”

Zoe’s voice cracked narrating these last quoted words. She dropped her face back in her hand, indicating she was done now. Her girlfriend shut her eyes in a wince, feeling the pain in her heart on Zoe’s behalf.

“God…” Lizzy empathized and sympathized. “I’m so sorry, honey…I wish I knew what to tell you. I mean…no one’s threatened to sue me at the pool…I guess people feel like it’s a little extreme to sue a lifeguard. But I can tell you at PetCo, sometimes we really screw up with customers too. I mean…it’s customer service. We do our best, just like you and your girls at the salon; we all do our best—but, you know this: we just can’t please everybody. It’s just the nature of the biz, Zoe. Cubby-bear, some people are just always gonna be upset, no matter what, and you can’t do a thing about it.”

“Oh, dearheart, I know that, but…” Zoe wept. “But what if she really does sue me? What if I lose…” Zoe clammed up, unable to finish the question, as if it might come true if said out loud. “I…I can’t lose my salon, Lizzy. I just can’t. It’s everything to me. It’s my life.”

“Well…” Lizzy-Beth continued hugging her, trying to think of more supportive things to say or do. “Zoe, I’d love to tell you that you won’t lose it, that somehow I’ll do whatever it takes, but…I’m not sure it’s in my power. I mean, we’ll…we’ll deal with it if it happens, Zoe. We’ll get your girls and our families and some legal help on our side. We’ll do everything we can. And…well, this is speculative, but…I mean, you’re brilliant at what you do, Zoe. You’re a genius. You’re a beauty wizard. And if you and everyone who works with you thought this woman looked good with her frosted hair, then I’m willing to bet whatever judge hears your case will too.”

Zoe looked back up and blinked her teary-red half-moon eyes at Lizzy. Her face blurred and refocused through the lacrimal shimmer.

“That actually really does make me feel better…oh, Lizzy, thank you. I love you so much…I dunno what I’d do without you.”

“Darn straight you don’t,” Lizzy-Beth kidded her. “And I know just the thing to turn that frown upside-down. I’m gonna take you straight to our therapy clinic—Dairy Dreams—and I’m gonna buy you the most delicious two-scoop waffle cone you’ve ever had.”

Zoe almost instantly felt her mouth start watering.

“Oh, honey, that sounds sooo good, but the way my luck’s been going, I’ll probably drop it on the floor and cry like a three-year-old.”

“Silly, that’s what they have bowls for!” Lizzy giggled, rubbing Zoe’s hungry belly. “Seriously, angel, all joking aside, this is just a matter of mind over…well…matter. If you just keep focused, I know you can overcome your little missteps.”

“Mmm,” Zoe nuzzled her. “You are the best and finest thing that has ever happened to my life, Lizzy. Hands down.”

“Okay.” Lizzy-Beth reached southward with both paws, groping Zoe’s tush with one and rubbing her between the legs with the other.

“What? You said, ‘Hands down.'”

“I didn’t mea—”

Before she could get out the “—n literally!” Lizzy-Beth’s impish smile disarmed her. It rendered Zoe weak in the knees, making it a lucky, lucky thing they were sitting down. The last thing she needed was to take another tumble, or harm herself anymore. But Lizzy’s smile and the significance behind set Zoe’s heart to fluttering. And the facetious mischief therein highlighted her playful, sometimes even wicked sense of humor, which had a similar effect. Sometimes Lizzy-Beth made her giggle, squeal or get quite excited with the slightest roguish gesture. And it never failed to endear her only more and more to Zoe.

While having her momentarily off-guard, Lizzy kissed her. Zoe felt her eyelids drop shut to settle in and revel. She squeezed Lizzy-Beth, her soft, curvy girl figure, feeling her insides teem with comfort and goodness, and her troubles of the past twenty-four hours already melting away. She’d spoken the truth. She really didn’t know what she’d do without Lizzy by her side, now that they’d been together the last six months. They’d been by far the happiest, brightest, most joyful six months of her life.

She could have stayed like this eternally, but Lizzy-Beth abruptly broke the kiss and stood up.

“A’right, I’m gonna go get dressed. You’re just about all set, but you might wanna grab your cap and mittens too.”

“Wha—” Zoe was disoriented. “…But I thought we were…y’know, getting…friendly.”

“We were, but now it’s time to go out for ice cream.”

“B—…can’t that wait?”

“Not at all. They’re only open till 9:00, and if we let ourselves get too friendly first, it’d be much too late by the time we were done.”

“…Well, yeah, but, Lizzy…snookums, uh…couldn’t we just go there tomorrow instead? We’re both off all day.”

Something told Zoe she should have seen the answer to that one coming.

“The parlor’s only open to 5:00 on Sundaes—ha, ha—and besides, I’ve already mapped out tomorrow’s entire activity in my mind. PetCo’s just given us all an early Valentine’s present in the form of our quarterly bonuses. And tomorrow, I’m going to take you to the mall as soon as it opens, and spend the hell out of it. I’m gonna buy us more bags of stuff than we can carry.”

Zoe’s eyes opened as wide as saucers. She loved this idea. And she didn’t at all mind spending her entire day this way. The mall was one of her sanctum sanctorums, a magical shopping haven where everything was nice, and where they could buy anything their eager beating hearts desired. She assumed Lizzy-Beth meant the Juniper Mall. It wasn’t as expansive as Bloomington’s legendary Mall Of America (although what mall could be?), but was closer in proximity and boasted many of their same favorite stores. Actually, there was talk of Juniper Mall add-ons later on in ’15 or ’16. It was very exciting news. Lizzy and Zoe loved shopping, and not just for any one type of merchandise. They needn’t always shop, either; sometimes they just went and enjoyed the atmosphere. Sometimes they scavenger hunted, sometimes they hung out, sometimes they did what they were about to do tonight, and got something tasty to eat.

“Besides,” Lizzy went on, a sneaky smile playing at her lips, “I like making you wait till I’m ready. It makes the libido grow…fonder.”

Zoe knew she was right, gosh-darn her. Despite Lizzy’s coy, beatific shyness the very first time they made love last summer, things changed in the past half-year. And it was Lizzy-Beth Williams who ran things concerning their sex life. Sometimes this frustrated or annoyed Zoe a bit, but for the most part, the Palm-girl enjoyed being under Lizzy’s sexual control. She liked how much Lizzy-Beth took initiative in their naughty escapades. It was one of the sweet little touches in their relationship that showed how much she cared.

But first, Zoe would be made to wait. Fortunately for her, ice cream was a deliciously sweet diversion.

Saturday, February 7th, 2015, 8:47 p.m.

Lizzy and Zoe sat across from each other in the Dairy Dreams parlor. Each ordered a dish with two different-flavored scoops and waffle cones crushed on top. Lizzy chose raspberry and mint chocolate chip, and Zoe butter pecan and mocha. Mixing flavors was extra fun, and for even more fun they spoon-fed one another. At this point in their union, they’d shared much more than utensils.

Before they knew it they were done, and two more ecstatically happy puffed tummies exited the parlor. It may not have been the order of operations Zoe’d have chosen, but her tummy was not the body part foremost in her mind just now.

Lizzy-Beth took her back in from the cold and they began shedding clothes, starting with their shoes and following up immediately with their nylons. Oh, that felt much better already. Now to resume puck’rin’ up. Each additional kiss lit another small candle in their souls, until they started sweating under the leftover clothing they had on. Their bellies remained stuffed with ice cream to the point that they felt they could birth a banana split, but didn’t care. Such meager, venial details couldn’t have dissuaded them less.

All four locked lips smiled. Now that they were done waiting, Zoe felt grateful and appreciative Lizzy’d forced her to hold off. She’d been absolutely right. Had Zoe pushed earlier and prevailed, the act would’ve been less satisfying, for a few reasons. To name one, her mind would’ve been on nice cold ice cream, rather than nice hot Liz-cream. This logically would cause her trouble concentrating. That Lizzy was one smart cookie. To say nothing of sexy. And now Zoe got to discover that sexiness all over again. She was the lucky cookie.

Muffins, indefinitely napping curled up on a sofa pillow, heard them enter and trotted to greet them. Zzzzzzzzzz—”Mrow!…Mrow!…” Their feline companion got literally underfoot. Everywhere. They had to do some fancy-dancy footwork to avoid kicking or stepping on her. Muffins of course didn’t know, mean or wish to interrupt their romantic time; she just wanted her figure-eight leg-love received and rewarded. However, resourceful Lizzy found something to distract pesky kitty away. Half-dressed to their underthings and bare feet, Lizzy happened upon a jingle-bell toy. She brought Zoe to a halt, picked up the toy with her tarsal piggies, and let it fly in another direction. Muffins stood on her hind paws to try and catch it, missed, and chased off after. And the lovebird lasses were back on track.

This cat toy was included in a package of assorted jingle balls and mice. They were Her Kittyness Muffins’ favorite. She could play with them until it was sleepy-time all over again. So as long as they could keep their minds off the incessant jingling, Zoe and Lizzy would be set for the evening. Fortuitously, like many bedrooms found in common residential dwellings, this one consisted of a door.

CreeeeEAK…CREEEEeak…slam. And we’re in.

The trail of strewn garments on the other side left Lizzy in her undershirt and Zoe her bra and panties, nothing more. Yet separated by one window from 25° of winter outside, the girls were even warmer. Zoe reached beneath Lizzy’s undershirt, tickling her sides.

“You are my world,” she serenely proclaimed to Lizzy-Beth. “You’re so beautiful, and so wonderful, and colorful, and fanciful, and lots of other terrific character traits that end in ‘ful.‘“

Lizzy laughed, both at the rib tickle Zoe gave her and her silly sweet remark.

“And you, Zoe Palmer, are the greatest, most fantastic thing ever to happen to me.”

“I love you, Lizzy-Beth Williams.”

Lizzy-Beth Williams’ expression turned from charmed to sultry and seductive.

The two simple monosyllabic words stirred Zoe and awoke her erogenous Zoens. Her tits plumped, nipples stiffening. Her body was hugged the slightest bit tighter by the bra, which was about to be discarded. Her soft, ginger fingertips slid diagonally up from Lizzy-Beth’s hips, to the undersides of her liberated boobs. Lizzy gave a gasp amongst a dozen fluttering blinks, and reciprocated the caressing over Zoe’s silky bare torso. They began raising the room temperature with only their body heat.

With a series of steps resembling something between a tango and a foxwaltz, they made their way to the bed. They attempted to sit, but gravity took over and tumbled them in together. Both giggled with a faint squeak. All four (front) paws reached and groped around each other, snuggling aggressively in the mattress. Stray hair fell over all four eyes and both noses. They shook their heads, trying to whip it away, and smushed their faces in an Earth-rocking kiss, before the hair could get in their way again.

“Mmmmm…” Zoe moaned, pushing up Lizzy’s nightshirt to fondle her girlfriend’s breasts and tweak her now hard nipples.

“MmmMMMmm…” Lizzy replied, finding Zoe’s bra hooks and rapidly unfastening. Before Zoe knew it, her own wired cups fell off. Very grateful feeling her girls freed, Zoe snatched the bra and flung it behind to land where it would. Lizzy-Beth broke the kiss, exhaling in haste before seizing the hem of her undershirt to pull over her head. Warm, dairy-tinged breath settled over Zoe’s face, enticing her soft, pronounced nose with remnants of raspberry and mint chocolate chip. She found herself yet happier Lizzy’d forced her to go out for that ice cream. The girl really did know how to make her year, turning all the worst days of her life into the best. She was a miracle. However, this miracle was having some trouble getting her nightshirt off. In her excitement, she’d gotten it tangled in her arms. The more she facelessly struggled and scrambled to solve this problem, the more amused Zoe became. She looked so funny, Zoe couldn’t resist. While Lizzy’s face was covered in cotton, Zoe tickled her again, this time under the arms—cracking them both up.