Chapter 10: Amelia

On Thursday, Larissa arrived at Xander and Steph’s place direct from rescue vet work. She’d spent the morning on the road with Ruth, and then she had a lunch time corporate speaking appointment. Mark liked the idea that she turned up in her work gear, a working woman, and Larissa liked that too. This was her second corporate gig, and she’d enjoyed this one, unlike the stressful first one; the interactions she’d had were rewarding: yeah, she was dealing with the bank big wigs but she’d found that in the end, they were just people with a job, and messy families and sex lives just like everyone else. The bank wanted her to work with them on a presentation to be part of their empowering female staff program – cutting the presentation she did with shots of her at work. Awesome. Then in the afternoon, she’d worked with Larry, another of the vet rescue leads. At the end, they’d done a bit of hobby farm work, and to save time, she’d decided to just go straight to Steph’s place rather than get cleaned up at the base.

Steph’s apartment was on the fourth floor, and there was a lift. She laughed to herself; there was a couple of other women waiting for the lift, dressed up in office suits, but they took one look at her and declined to get in the lift with her, twisting their noses in disgust. She gave them a lovely smile and said, “Yeah, I’d wait too. Sorry!” At least they laughed.

As soon as Steph let her in, she burst into laughter. “Man, you fit right in here, smelling of poo!” She wrinkled her nose. “But yours smells much worse than Rachel’s does. That’s atomic level awful.”

Larissa laughed with Steph; she could rely on her to be made welcome whatever. Larissa saw Amelia behind, looking at her in disbelief. She laughed to herself; putting up with the smell was immediately worthwhile. “hi Amelia! How’s it going?”

“Umm, OK. Do you often smell like this?”

“Oh, no, this is specially bad. I worked with one of the guys today and last visit was to a hobby farm to look at a pig and then a cow. I got shit in my hair, and decided to come here to clean up rather than do it at base. No one wanted to get in the lift with me, don’t know why! Steph, can I have a shower?” Amelia’s face was a wonderful sight; she’d clearly just blown any idea Amelia had about her right out of the water.

“Sure, go for it. Please!”

It was only once she was about to get in the shower that she thought of a towel. “Hey Steph,” she called through the open door, “can I have a towel please?”

“Oh yes. They’re out on the line drying; just leave the door open, and Amelia will bring it in.”

Steph’s shower was strong and hot – lovely, and she really felt better afterwards. The towel was waiting for her, and when she was dry, she wrapped it around her waist, and went back to her bag by the front door and grabbed herself a singlet and panties to wear. Once dressed, she turned to Steph and Amelia and said, “I can say hello properly now!” and gave Steph a big hug and a kiss. Then she turned to Amelia – was Amelia up for that? She seemed to be, so she gave Amelia a hug, but let the kiss go. “I’m really looking forward to tonight. Just us girls! Going to be awesome.”

“Hey, Amelia, usually I’d do Larissa’s hair for her, but I can hear Rachel’s awake. Can you do it while I feed Rachel?”

Larissa could see Amelia’s surprise, but she said, “Sure, I’d like to do that.”

While Steph was feeding Rachel, Larissa and Amelia chatted about their days. Larissa had never really talked to Amelia before, and she was curious to learn about her. Amelia was at university doing architecture and loved the idea of designing and building urban environments full of social life and open space, with lots of nature. She really loved her family, and her side job – she worked as a tutor/educational aide for handicapped kids, and she loved swimming and played netball for a university team – not that serious; just fun, friendship and exercise.

By this time, Larissa’s hair was done, but she didn’t want to stop the conversation, so she switched with Amelia, and brushed her hair, continuing to learn about Amelia. It wasn’t long before Amelia said, “You know, Larissa, you’re really surprising. I didn’t imagine you coming in dressed that like that, and then sitting here brushing my hair.”

Steph laughed from across the room. “That’s exactly what I said to Larissa, the first time she and I really spent time together. It’s really easy to misjudge Larissa, lots of people do, and I did too. Xander did as well, at first. Larissa, tell her your story. All of it. Amelia, Larissa is kind of well known for being out there, but she only opens her whole heart to very few people.”

Larissa frowned. “Amelia, I can. But before I do, Steph told me a little about you last weekend. You had a bad dating experience, right?” Amelia nodded. “My story is a little worse than that.” Steph coughed in disbelief. “OK, maybe a lot worse. But I don’t want you to think that means I think less of you. I dealt with it differently to you, but I’m never going to think you had it easy.” Amelia nodded, and looked back at Larissa, smiling.

“I’m sure you’ve heard me called a slut, since Xander has.” Amelia nodded. “OK, so let me tell you about the day I first got called a slut.” She told Amelia about that, to her very evident horror, and then about her slide downhill after the lockdowns ended, and getting rescued by Sal, learning to stop drinking and build strong female friendships, before finding Julian and them saving each other. And she explained how important to her owning her own skin was, and letting it be OK to like sex. “That’s how I get to the point where I’m happy that Steph has that picture there up – remembering a sensational and super important moment in our lives, who cares that we’re naked? I’ve got the same picture up in our place. Sure, people see it. So what? That’s all they get unless I say so. I understand your parents don’t like that, but they haven’t asked us about it. And I know that people think that because I like sex, and they can see that, that must somehow mean I’ll sleep with anyone. Stupid – why? Do they hate on Julian or something, think he’s no good? Cause he’s the only one I’ll ever do it with now.” Yeah, she could see that Amelia understood what she was saying.

By that time, Steph had finished burping Rachel, and then Amelia held Rachel while Steph and Larissa cooked dinner in the kitchen. Larissa let Amelia ask any questions she wanted, no matter how private they were, and Steph prodded Amelia along. “You really can ask anything, Amelia, and it’s a great opportunity for you. Larissa deals with it all by being radically open once she opens her heart. So ask away.”

One of Amelia’s questions led to them talking about Larissa’s lunch time corporate presentation, and the private embrace she had afterwards with one of the big bank executives, telling her about being raped as a teenager and how she’d never talked about it ever before. “It happens to way too many of us, Amelia. And there’s lots of ways to deal with it. The right way is any way that lets you get on with your life and have a happy heart with stable relationships.” Amelia understood the message there, she could see. “The trick is finding that way; it’s not easy. That’s what family and friends are for, or should be. And hey, you’re here, amongst friends who understand. That’s nearly as safe as you’ll ever get.”

“What would be safer?” Amelia asked.

Larissa smiled at her. “A man who you love with your whole heart, and who loves you, and fills your life and body, and who really knows and understands you completely, treasures you and makes you strong. That’s gold. And that’s what I have.” Amelia really understood that in her heart, she could see. “I’m never letting go of that. Whatever I do, it’s for Julian, and my whole purpose in life is blow his mind off the earth however I can. That means things in bed, sure, and because I’m out there, people see that, and think that’s what I’m all about. But, no, it’s much more that, it means things in our whole lives, the whole way we live: totally committed to making each other the best we can be.”

“Yes,” said Steph. “That’s the woman I know, Amelia. Sure, she sexes Julian with her whole heart and mind, and blows his mind continually; I see that, and I love that my brother gets that in his life. And other people see that and obsess about the sex bit. But she pursues the whole vet rescue thing with the same commitment and determination. And her fitness, and her friendships. She’s just as determined to be friends with me, or with Asha, or with Asha’s friends, or the old guy they found wandering along the road in the middle of the night. And you saw her on TV, right? – exactly that commitment and determination saved Lacey’s life, when no one else could’ve pulled it off.” Amelia was nodding and smiling at that. “You want to watch the full video and hear Larissa tell the whole story?” Yes, she very much wanted that. “Larissa, you happy to show her that later?” Well, of course. “Anyway, that night after she saved Lacey, and she was still coming to terms with being on TV, I held her tight, and I told her how much I love having her in our family.”

“Thanks, sister,” Larissa said to Steph, “I love you just as much. Your strengths are not as out there as mine, but neither are your weaknesses. And Amelia: I don’t think you should ever be as open or out there the way I am, by a long way, but what I think from what I know about you, is that we want to help you integrate love and sex into the wider picture of your live, so that you can be whole about that. Cause I think the rest of your life sounds great. How open you want to be about the sex will flow naturally from who you are, and it’s probably going to be ‘mostly my business’. But I’d like for you to be able to say to yourself, ‘I like sex, and I’m ok with that.’ Because I don’t think you’re there, right? But you want to be, yes?”

Amelia nodded. “I’d really like that, but I’m afraid of the process, of getting hurt by guys while I’m finding a good one. And do I have to have sex with lots of guys to be able to say, ‘I like sex?’ Cause I don’t think I want to do that.”

“Great questions, and we sure understand how you feel, totally. I did sleep with lots of guys, and I don’t recommend that at all. I didn’t find Julian that way, and I never would have. You’ll be much better to be like Asha: she’s only ever slept with Jaiden and plans that she’ll only ever do it with him. But she absolutely loves sex – crazy about it. Mum’s the same, really: only Dad, ever, and she’s just as crazy about sex too. Both of them are lucky; it doesn’t always work out that way, but if it does ... awesome! Steph, you had a couple of other guys before Xander, yes?”

Steph nodded. “One and a bit, really. Then I wised up about boys and had a couple I didn’t let get past first base, and then I realised Xander was the right guy.”

“Yeah, thanks. I’m not the only open one, Amelia – really hard to be open about that with Xander’s sister! Anyway, there’s things we can do to help you with this tonight, and we’re going to do what we can. Still, yes, in the end, you have to date guys. Well, at least one! We’ll talk about how to make that safe because it really can be. And then, we’ll talk about how to set them on fire when it’s time for that.” She grinned. “Cause that’s fun. Steph, let’s put Rachel to bed, and then we can do some fashion try-ons?”

“Well, I don’t think Rachel’s ready yet. And before that, I think you should tell Amelia about your principles.” Larissa did that; she showed Amelia their current set and wrote down the ones that Dave and Lem gave her. Then she had to explain how she got them, and that generated its own discussion, as well as a discussion about their principles. Larissa found it strange that people found her principles interesting and unusual – what did other people do? Was their life random? Or they just didn’t care to be honest with themselves? Or sex was somehow broken off from their life? Weird. And asking Amelia that question kind of drove that home for her.

Then they decided to get Rachel settled, and Amelia wanted to do it, so Steph and Larissa tidied up from dinner and planned what they were going to do next.

Once Rachel was settled, they went into Steph’s bedroom, and Larissa tipped her bag out on the bed – a mix of outfits and underwear, and Steph opened her drawers. They took turns modelling outfits, encouraging Amelia to try a range of outfits from practical to party chick to bedroom sexy. Amelia was close enough in size, between Larissa and Steph, that she could get their clothes on, though sometimes the look didn’t quite fit, or the zips and buttons didn’t quite do up. That caused lots of laughter but it still served the purpose. Gradually Amelia become more comfortable with the process, and then Larissa started modelling her underwear, showing Amelia her range of choices, and talking about when different choices were suitable. She showed her which ones she did dancing in underwear in, since Amelia asked about that, and gave her more context around that. She hinted that they should do that too, the three of them, but Steph didn’t want to risk waking up Rachel.

When they were finished, Larissa said, “Amelia, you look good in all of that stuff. You can wear whatever you want. It all depends on what you want to do, to be, and how you feel. Now Steph and I think that you should put this outfit on, and get used to wearing it, and we’ll go back out to the lounge for a cup of tea.” The outfit she indicated was a very sexy date outfit, paired with some of Steph’s underwear she wasn’t using until she toned up after carrying Rachel. “If you wore that on a date – and you could! – you’d be very clearly signalling to the guy that you want the night to end in bed. One day, that’ll be the right thing for you to do. Of course, that’s not going to happen tonight, we just think you should just take this opportunity to get used to wearing something like that.” Wow, Amelia’s eyes said; that’s way too wild for me. But they could see her thinking it through and deciding to give it a go.

Back out in the lounge, she sat down super carefully, but she still flashed her undies, to her embarrassment. “Oh,” Larissa said, “the point of an outfit like that is that you’re going to flash your undies, so do it proudly but not too obviously on purpose.”

Steph made them some tea, and then Larissa put Lacey’s rescue video on the TV, and walked Amelia through it, stopping anytime she had questions. Like everyone, Amelia found it hard to get over the whole underwear thing, but also she said that she couldn’t believe the way Larissa lifted the girl out of the ditch, and her whole netball team had been in disbelief that it was even real. They thought they had good core strength...