Anais was not pleased. Her boyfriend Louis had two last minute tickets to Harry Arnold, and he’d invited his friend Mat. If it got late they’d stay in a hotel. “Hey, it’s just for one night,” he told Anais. “Surely you can survive one night without me.”

Anais invited Mat’s girlfriend Laura for a sleepover. “Unless you had something else planned.”

“No, that would be great,” Laura said. She showed up a little after seven.

“It’s been years since I’ve been on a sleepover,” Laura said.

“Me too,” Anais replied. “I can’t remember the last time.”

“Did you have a pillow fight?”

“I don’t think so,” Anais said. “Did you?”

“No. When I was littler, I always thought a sleepover meant there would be a pillow fight, but there never was. If I had been braver I would have started one.”

“So what did you do instead?” Anais asked.

“Listened to music. Talked about boys. Colored our nails.”

“That sounds familiar,” Anais said. “But the way I feel now, the less said about the boys the better.”

“Me too,” said Laura. “But it’s not like I don’t want them to have a good time.”

Anais found a record from Louis’ retro record collection and put it on the old-fashioned turntable.

“Cool,” Laura said. “I like jazz.”

They listened for a while. Anais poured some wine.

“Those old record player machines are kind of fun,” Laura said. “The music goes great with this wine. What is it?”

“The wine or the music?” Anais asked.

“Both,” Laura said.

“It’s not Harry Arnold,” Anais said. They laughed.

“Is it time to put on our nighties yet?” Laura asked.

“It is!” Anais said. “But if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a really quick shower.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“I won’t be long. Help yourself to more wine.”

Anais half hoped Laura would join her in the shower. Maybe she should have asked her to. She showered quickly, soaping and hoping, dried off, and then, wrapped in fluffy towel, returned to Laura. “Just checking that you’re okay,” she said.

“Doing fine,” Laura said. “This wine is so good.”

“Nice nightgown,” Anais said. “You could almost wear it as a dress.”

“I know,” Laura said. “I wasn’t quite sure whether I should ... you know?”

“Fancy or simple?”

“Yeah. I hope you don’t mind I went with fancy.”

“No, not at all. You look great in it. I bet Mat loves that one.”

“Actually, he’s never seen it. I bought it for a special occasion.”

Anais grinned. “Pick out another not Harry Arnold record while I pour us some more wine,” she said.

A moment later they were sitting on the soft carpet sipping wine.

“This is nice,” Laura said. “I’m glad you asked me over.”

“What would you be doing if you weren’t here?”

Laura shrugged. “Probably reading a dull book. Probably going to bed early. What about you?”

“Probably the same,” Anais admitted. “So what should we do now? Read a book to each other and go to bed?”

Laura laughed. “Right. There’s always coloring our nails.”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” Anais said. “My toenails are in awful shape. How about I color yours and you color mine. Deal?”

“Deal,” Laura said.

Anais got out her selection of nail colors.

“Wow, you have a nice assortment,” Laura said.

“Any color you especially like?” Anais asked.

“Surprise me,” Laura said.

“Okay.”

Anais took hold of Laura’s right foot. “Of course you know that before painting the toenail, some preparation is required.”

“Preparation?” A look of concern crossed Laura’s face.

Anais shook her head. “Don’t worry. This won’t hurt too much.” And she drew Laura’s foot to her mouth. She kissed Laura’s big toe. She kissed it again and then encased it with her lips. She sucked the toe, using her tongue from time to time on the fleshy pad. While she sucked, she held Laura’s foot firmly. She could feel Laura trying to pull away, but she wouldn’t let her. She hummed as she sucked. “Mmmm. Mmmm. Mmmm.” From Laura’s face, Anais could tell the sucking was having some effect—the exact nature of the effect was unclear. She continued sucking the now slippery big toe.

A minute or so later she released the big toe from her mouth, but she did not let go of the foot. She gave the big toe a parting kiss, then pushed her tongue between the big toe and its neighbor. Her tongue explored the gap between the toes. Again Laura tried to pull away; again Anais held firm. “Relax,” she said. “Trust me, this is necessary. So necessary.”

Anais pulled Laura’s foot to her breast. The towel had slipped down just enough. She worked Laura’s slippery big toe against her erect nipple. Just a few touches, transferring some of the moisture from toe to nipple, all the while smiling at Laura, and then she brought the foot back to her lips. She forced her lips over Laura’s second toe, much smaller than the big toe, and applied pressure with her lips and friction with her tongue. She took the toe between her teeth, held it gently but firmly, and trilled her tongue against the soft pad. Then more sucking. More trilling. She heard Laura sigh. She caressed Laura’s foot as she sucked. She couldn’t help but notice that Laura’s legs had slipped apart, exposing her vulva. Her labia were puffy and open. Her clitoris was clearly erect. Fluid had gathered in Laura’s vagina and began to seep down towards the small tight aperture of her anus. Fresh fluid welled from Laura’s aroused sex. Her inner lips darkened with desire. Her clitoris twitched. Her anus clenched and clenched again. Anais knew Laura was not far from orgasm. She kept sucking the second toe. Sucking and licking. Laura’s eyes fluttered. Her lips parted. Her breath caught. Another minute of sucking should do it, Anais knew.