Chapter 5: Lisa and Julie - In Which They Go to the Beach

Some weeks passed and mid-summer turned into late summer. Julie had to start thinking about getting ready for the new semester and her senior year at St. Margaret’s. She had been chosen for the position as Prof. Smith’s teaching assistant, and Lisa took her out for ice cream to celebrate, but Julie knew that preparing for the position would take up a lot of her time. They spent what time they could together and even found some private moments to make out. Lisa suspected that she would only have to apply a little bit of seduction and Julie could be persuaded to “go all the way”, but she thought it best to take things slowly. She did not want to make Julie uncomfortable, so they never progressed beyond “first base”. Lisa enjoyed letting her hands wander over Julie’s blouse and let her mind wander to thoughts about what it would be like to touch and kiss what lay underneath. Julie was a little shy at first, but came to enjoy giving the same kind of attention to Lisa’s smaller breasts.

One Sunday afternoon, as they were relaxing in Lisa’s apartment, Julie suddenly blurted out, “I have a confession to make.”

“Oh, really, what is it?”

“I never quite got around to breaking up with Steve. We haven’t really seen much of each other since I’ve been your girlfriend...”

Julie paused and blushed as she said this, but then continued.

“But I owe it to him to positively break it off. Don’t I?”

“Yes, you really should, but did something happen to bring this up?”

“Yes. I thought that I could just ignore it all and let the relationship die a slow natural death, but then he asked me to meet him on Friday.”

“Did you meet him?” Lisa asked.

“Well, yes, just for coffee at the Student Center, or tea, or whatever it was we had. He still wants to go on this beach trip with me. Next weekend is the last weekend before classes start for both of us, and he told me all about his detailed plans for us.”

“And what did you say to that?” Lisa asked curiously.

“OK, I lied. Or fibbed. Or something. You should know right now that I am a terrible liar, especially when a situation catches me by surprise. I couldn’t tell him that I couldn’t because I have a girlfriend, so I said the first thing that popped into my head, which is that I already had plans for that weekend.”

“Did he express any curiosity about what those plans entailed? Lisa asked, with a smile.

“Well, yes, so I told him that I was planning to go to the beach with a friend.”

“Did he ask anything about this friend?”

“As it happens, he did and I told him that it was my friend Lisa.”

“Hmm,” Lisa said, “I may be able to help you out here.”

“Help me out? How would you do that?” Julie asked eagerly.

“Well, it was a lie when you said it, but it doesn’t have to stay a lie.”

“Not stay a lie? What do you mean?”

Lisa took Julie by the hand, looked her in the eye, smiled, and said, “Julie, would you like to spend next weekend at the beach with your dear friend Lisa?”

Julie’s mouth dropped open in surprise and she paused before she answered. Lisa could see that she was thinking hard about what a trip to the beach with Lisa would mean. Then, after a few thoughtful moments, with Lisa holding her breath the whole time, Julie suddenly smiled and said, “Yes, dear friend Lisa, I would love to spend next weekend at the beach with you.”

The next day, Lisa jumped right back into whirlwind planning mode. She knew that it would be difficult to find a nice beach resort with a room available just one week before the end of summer, but she was determined to make it happen. After dozens of phone calls and hundreds of internet searches and with a good bit if luck, she found the perfect place in Newport. It was indeed perfect. It had beautiful views and plenty of things to do that Lisa hoped Julie would enjoy. They would have a detached bungalow all to themselves, and Lisa could just barely afford it. The only difficulty was that it was a one-and-a-half hour drive, which Lisa knew was likely to become much longer with typical Friday evening traffic. She went ahead and booked the room for the weekend.

Lisa pulled up to the agreed-upon rendezvous point down the street from the sorority house in the late afternoon on Friday and waited for Julie. She knew that Julie was still not ready to come out to her sorority sisters, and so would rather not have Lisa come to the door. Lisa understood and waited patiently. Lisa would have preferred an earlier start, but Julie had a meeting that afternoon with Prof. Smith about her assistantship and wouldn’t be ready to go until at least four o’clock. It was almost five by the time Julie finally came out a side door of the house, lugging a big suitcase.

“What all do you have in there?” Lisa asked incredulously.

“Clothes, mostly. I didn’t know everything we would be doing, so I decided to keep my options open. Some makeup. A book. Another book, in case I finish the first one. Is it too much?”

“No, it’s fine. I have a big trunk.”

After lifting her suitcase into the trunk, Julie settled into the passenger seat, and they started for the beach.

As soon as they saw the interstate, they knew that traffic was going to be bad. Lisa had hoped that three hours might be realistic, but now she feared that it could end up being twice that, if it was as bad as this all the way there. Rather than let herself get frustrated, Lisa reminded herself that the beach was not the point. Spending time with her sweetheart was what was important, and she could do that whether she was sipping lemonade by the pool or sitting in stopped traffic.

Traffic did not let up and, by the time they reached the resort, checked in, and found their bungalow, it was after eleven o’clock. They were both exhausted. Lisa brought the luggage in and then flopped down on the king-size bed and exhaled. All they could think of at that point was going to sleep. Even if they did nothing more than go to bed, it was still going to be one of many new experiences for both of them. Lisa was a little excited that this was going to be the first time that they slept in the same bed. She started imagining how nice it would be to see Julie’s bright smile as the first thing when she opened her eyes. Then she looked around to see where Julie was and decided that she must be in the bathroom. Lisa let her head fall back and closed her eyes.