Chapter 2

As the days went by and Tabitha and Emily grew closer, Tabitha's relationship with her mother began to deteriorate to the point where they could hardly even be in the same room together without getting into an argument. Morning, noon or night if mother and daughter were in the same room the whole house would reverberate with the sounds of their angry screams. The excuses for the fighting were always different, but the real reason was always the same: Tabitha's mom would marry whomever she pleased and Tabitha had no right to tell her otherwise.

Tabitha didn't need to ask to know where this new line of thought originated. It came straight from Gary and whatever booze was currently making it's way through her mother's bloodstream. When her mother ran out after their first fight she'd made only two stops. One was the party store and the other was Gary's trailer. Tabitha didn't need a junior detectives badge to figure that out. If her mother was anything she was predictable.

Luckily she had Emily. Ever since that morning the girls had quietly and consistently become what could only be described as lovers. There was no conscious decision on either Tabitha's or Emily's part on the new state of their relationship. It just kind of happened that way.

Tabitha was glad to have such a good friend when her life just seemed to be getting worse by the day. Emily was a comfort in more ways than one. She was someone to talk to that wouldn't yell at her or call her cunt., she was someone to hold her when she felt sad or lonely or just wanted to be held and she was someone to fuck her into a coma whenever, wherever, however.

Emily may not have had a dick, but Tabitha had simply never been more satisfied. In fact, that was more than half of the appeal. Urges and feelings Tabitha had once thought alien to her being were now the only things keeping her sane. She didn't quite know if she was a lesbian or not, but it hardly mattered, being with Emily just felt right.

And she was with Emily a lot. Whenever they were alone together for more than ten minutes the girls were bound to be locked in a loving embrace in some way, shape or form. In Emily's bed or Tabitha's late at night when everyone was sleeping... In Emily's dad's home office when her parents were working. In Emily's pool, the shower, on the pool table in Emily's parents game room, in a bathroom stall at a sleazy club and so many other places it would take forever to list them all. They were like two virgins in love discovering with each other for the very first time and, in a way, they were just that.

When they weren't making love they were constantly touching each other playfully or just holding each others hands enjoying the contact. Some of their friends were beginning to notice a change in them. A few of their more prudish friends obviously disapproved. Tabitha didn't let that bother her. Emily, however, seemed more than a little troubled by the judging eye of their peers.

"Have you talked to Morgan lately?" Emily asked her one night as they lay in Tabitha's bed enjoying a warm breeze from the open window as they cuddled up to each other enjoying the afterglow of a vigorous evening of lovemaking.

Tabitha barely heard her as she began to doze off into a peaceful sleep. It was well past two in the morning and Tabitha had to work the next morning. Emily knew this, but she had something on her mind.

"Tabby? Did you hear me?"

"What?" Tabitha responded in a drowsy whisper.

"Have you talked to Morgan lately?" Emily repeated quietly.

"No," came the still drowsy reply, "Why?"

There was a long pause before Emily spoke.

Tabitha's drowsy mind couldn't grasp why Emily would want to know if she'd spoken to Morgan at all. Morgan was a prissy girl who talked too much about too little that Tabitha could live without. The only reason she even associated with her was because Morgan used to go out with a her old drug dealer for the usual reasons dumb girls date drug dealers, namely, free drugs. Tabitha had never liked her and she liked her even less after Sam, her dealer, raised his prices because Morgan smoked too much weed.

"Why?" Tabitha repeated as Emily sighed almost as if she was reluctant to continue with her line of questioning. "Come on, Emily. What's up with Morgan?"

"She..." Emily started slowly, almost apprehensively, "Saw us the other day."

"So?" Tabitha replied with a mystified chuckle, "Lot's of people see us everyday."

"No," Emily replied seriously, as she sat up and looked down on Tabitha's naked, moonlit form, "I mean she saw us together at the party in the whirlpool. She knew what we were doing. She saw us kissing and she watched us..."

"So?" Tabitha repeated as she interrupted Emily and looked at her worried face questioningly. Reluctantly she sat up on her elbows and looked Emily dead in the eyes before continuing. "What does it matter what Morgan saw?"

"What if she tells someone?" replied Emily after a long pause.

"What if she does?" Tabitha came back not understanding Emily's concern.

"Tabitha," Emily said, the frustration in her voice growing by the second, "Her parents know my parents. What do you think would happen if my dad found out we were... you know."

"Fucking?" Tabitha replied trying to maintain some lightness.

Emily, however, was not amused.

"Yes!" she said with obvious anger. "I'm being serious here, Tabby. You know my dad. What do you think he'd do if he found out I was doing it with girls? And not just any girl, but the girl I talked him into getting as my roommate when I go to college in a month. I don't have a scholarship like you do, Tabby. If he decides he doesn't want me to go to the same school as you I won't have a choice. I can't afford tuition. I only work twenty hours a week!"

Tabitha just sat and listened as Emily went off on all the reasons why no one could know about their relationship. It wasn't just her dad. It was her mom and her judgmental family. It was her boss and his rabid homophobia. It was her sister, her church, her entire life. Everything could be ruined by the simple fact that they were lovers. At least that's how Emily saw it and, frankly, Tabitha couldn't really argue with her. In a small town like theirs in the middle of the bible belt judgmental neighbors were a dime a dozen.

"Okay, okay," Tabitha finally interrupted as Emily approached tears as she continued to spill out her worries and fears about their relationship. Instinctively she reached out and grabbed Emily's hand. Emily didn't resist... "I'm sorry, but what do you want to do about it? I love you, Emily. I don't want this to end just because some loud mouth busybody might blab to your dad about us."

"I don't want this to end either," Emily said as a few stray tears began to make their way down her beautiful cheeks. "I love you too. I love being with you. You make me feel better than anyone I've ever been with. When I'm with you, god, it sounds so sappy, but I feel complete... I'm just not ready for everyone to know. I can't take that right now. I'm just not ready for that."

"It's okay, Emily," Tabitha said as she gently wiped away Emily's tears with her fingers before placing a quick kiss on Emily's nose. "We can work it out. Don't worry about Morgan. Nobody will believe her. Everyone knows she's a lying bitch."

Tabitha kissed Emily once again, this time on her soft, yielding lips. Any fear or apprehension that Emily had was washed away by that gentle contact, at least for the moment. Both girls allowed their bodies to fall back onto the soft bed still locked together at the lips. Hands soon found their way to soft skin on the thighs, back and butt of their lover.

This, of course, was part of the problem. Emily and Tabitha needed no excuse at all to fall into each other's arms and fuck each other stupid and sweaty. Not that neither one of them minded in the moment. Emily was right though. It would eventually land them in trouble.

That didn't matter right now as Tabitha rolled Emily onto her back. Still kissing Emily Tabitha got up on her knees using a hand to balance herself as she allowed her free hand to slowly explore the soft flesh she had come to know so well over the last couple of weeks.

Emily moaned into Tabitha's mouth as those hands gently massaged the soft mounds of her small, perky breasts and her fingers pinched and fondled her pert, little nipples as they quickly hardened with arousal. Emily reached up her own hands to return the favor eliciting a positive response from her lover.

As much as Tabitha enjoyed playing with Emily's cute breasts her hands quickly began to find their way down Emily's thin frame to the moist junction of her thighs to delve into Emily's center. Emily offered no protest, no resistance in any way, shape or form as Tabitha's thin, skillful fingers insinuated their way inside of her.

Why should she? Those beautiful fingers had been inside her so many times. Less than an hour ago the very same fingers and the tongue that was gently sliding so sweetly against her own had taken her to heaven and kept her there for what seemed like an eternity. She had absolutely no doubt that they would do the same thing now.

Emily's own fingers continued to tease Tabitha's sensitive nipples as Tabitha's thumb began to gently, but firmly massage Emily's throbbing clit. Emily's body began to respond in it's usual fashion to pleasurable manipulations. Her hips began to grind against the lovely hand that brought her so much pleasure. Her torso began to twist and writhe as Tabitha's curled up inside her.

Suddenly Emily pushed Tabitha's face away from her own as she let out a scream. Her eyes squeezed shut as she began to grunt and writhe even more wildly as Tabitha smiled down on and whispered her encouragement before bending down to nibble on Emily's glistening, sweat slick neck.

"Come for me, baby," Tabitha whispered between nibbles as her fingers pistoned in and out of Emily's pussy. "Come on, Emily. I love you, baby... Come for me."

Emily was already too far gone to respond in any other way but to let out a long grunt of pure ecstasy as her body tried to comply with Tabitha's selfless demand. She felt the sensation begin to build in her body from her center. Warm pleasure that curled her toes, made her body arch and rigid and her gasp, then squeal as Tabitha's fingers explored her pussy's deepest reaches. Tabitha's mouth was on Emily's neck kissing and nibbling the skin. The girl's nipples touched. It was the best orgasm of the night.

As Emily came down she found Tabitha's lips pressed roughly against her own, slowly, but forceful kissing her passionately. As Emily's arms regained their strength, she made the effort to wrap them around the back of her best friend. Tabitha's fingers found their way from Emily's not well-satisfied pussy. Slowly, she brought those fingers up to Emily's face and traced the soft, lightly tanned skin gently leaving a slight trail on Emily's cheek.

Tabitha broke the kiss to look down into Emily's dreamy eyes and smile. Emily smiled back and then opened her lips as Tabitha offered up her fingers to Emily's mouth. Emily gladly accepted the gift, eagerly tasting her own juices on Tabitha's skin.

"You like that?" Tabitha whispered lustily as she smiled down on her friend as Emily suckled her fingers.

"Mmm," Emily replied as she allowed Tabitha's spit soaked fingers to escape her lips, "Absolutely yummy."

"Narcissist, " Tabitha teased before she brought her lips down to Emily's and the girls joined together in another loving kiss.

It was a beautiful kiss that could have lasted until forever or at least until the girls fell into a comfortable slumber, but that was not to be. The light flicked on and the door slammed against the wall scaring Tabitha and Emily half to death and giving them just enough time to separate themselves from each other before they both realized they were busted.

"What the hell is going on here?" Tabitha's mother yelled from the doorway obviously drunk.

The shock in her eyes matched the shock on the face's of Tabitha and Emily as the sat there too scared to even cover their nakedness for what seemed like a small eternity before Emily's modesty asserted itself just enough for her to cover herself with the sheet. Tabitha, on the other hand didn't seem to care about being naked as she sat up and responded to her mother's angry query with a question of her own.

"What are you doing here?" she said as she stood up next to the bed as her mother glared at her and Emily silently prayed that this was just a dream.

"What am I doing here?" Tabitha's mother came back with an angry slur, "This is my house, little girl. Now explain yourself and make it good. What the hell are you doing in my house naked with that stupid slut?"

"What do you think we were doing, you drunk bitch?" Tabitha came back as she stepped closer to her mother, the anger more than evident in her voice, "We were making love, we were having sex, we were fucking, we were doing it, we were..."

Tabitha was interrupted by a sudden smack on across her face from her mother. Emily gasped and covered her face as Tabitha brought her hand up to her cheek. Suddenly, almost on reflex she returned the favor and smacked her mother hard across the face. Again Emily gasped as she watched the scene play out before her. She knew nothing good could come of this. She knew that the moment Tabitha's mother made her presence known. These last few moments just confirmed her fears. Sensing that the yelling was about to begin again she quickly began to dress.

"Get the fuck out of my house, you cheap slut," Tabitha's mother growled, "Get out and don't you ever come back again. I don't ever want to see your face again."

"Fine," Tabitha growled back, "I'll be gone within the hour. Get out of my fucking room while I pack my stuff and you'll never see me again."

Tabitha's mother was obviously surprised at her daughter's apparent acquiescence to her angry demands. She was simply speechless as her turned and walked out of the room without another word though she did manage to slam the door behind her in lieu of a verbal response. Emily was shocked as well and stopped dressing and stared at Tabitha as Tabitha just stayed standing for a moment glaring at her doorway with obvious hate.

"Tabitha?" Emily managed to quietly blurt out as she stood up in her panties, t-shirt and one sock and cautiously placed a hand on her lover's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Tabitha just turned to her and wrapped her arms around Emily in a tight hug which Emily returned as she felt Tabitha begin to lightly sob. Emily whispered comforting words into Tabitha's ear as they held each other until Tabitha slowly loosened her grip on Emily and wiped away her own tears.

"I'm sorry Emily," Tabitha said as she stared into Emily's eyes and smiled weakly.

"Don't be sorry," Emily replied quietly, "It's not your fault. None of this is."

Tabitha smiled a little more brightly at Emily before planting a quick kiss on her forehead. At the moment she had no clue where she was going to go, but just being with Emily somehow made it all a little easier.

"Finish dressing while I pack and then we'll get out of here," Tabitha said as she let go of Emily. Emily looked unsure.

"You're actually going to move out?" she asked.

"Yeah," Tabitha replied simply as she picked up her pants and slipped them on not bothering with panties. "I don't have much choice. I can't stay here."

"But where are you going to go?" Emily inquired as she stayed glued to the spot.

"I don't know," Tabitha came back. "Don't worry about it. I'll think of something. If I have to, I'll go to Becky's. I'm sure she'll take me in for a little awhile anyways... She offered me a room a while ago when I thought about dropping out. After that I'll just go to college like we planned and I'll have a dorm room to call home for a while. Anything is better than this. If I have to live in my car until school starts, I'll do it. Don't worry about it. Now get dressed. I'm going to pack and then we're out of here."

"Okay," Emily said still unsure, but she did as she was asked anyway knowing there was no choice.

Once both girls finished dressing they both got to the task of packing as much of Tabitha's things into her two suitcases and the army duffel bag, that was only thing she still had of her father's. Clothes, books, pictures, et cetera. It all got shoved into something.

By the time the hour was up Tabitha's old Volkswagen was packed up and ready to roll... Tabitha's mom was still home sitting in the kitchen, smoking cigarette after cigarette, but Tabitha didn't bother to say goodbye as the sun began to rise bringing on the new day. She had nothing to say to her at all.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Tabitha asked Emily as they got on the road leaving Tabitha's old life behind them.

"What are you going to do?" was the response from Emily.

"Well, first I'm going to see Suzy and tell her I'm not going to come into work today and why and then I'm going to go to Becky's gas station and talk to her about crashing at her house for a few weeks. If she says yes then I'll hopefully be able to go to her house and crash on her sofa until I feel like waking up. You can come along if you want to, but..."

"I'll come along," Emily interrupted unwilling to wait for the but. For some reason she had no desire to go home right now. She knew she should be tired. It was already getting near six. Normally she'd be dead asleep by now. She was just too worried to go bed right now.

"Okay," Tabitha smiled softly, "Just don't be passing out on me, now. If you're coming with me you're going to keep me company."

"I couldn't go to sleep right now if you drugged me," Emily said causing Tabitha to laugh weakly as she pulled into the parking lot of the twenty-four hour copy shop where Tabitha worked. Tabitha pulled into a spot away from the windows where Emily couldn't be seen and took a deep breath.

"Just stay her for a second. I'll be right back. She doesn't need to know you're with me. I'll don't want her to think I'm just lying to her to get out of work."

"Okay," Emily said as she bent over to kiss Tabitha before she got out of the car. "Hurry back."

"Will do," Tabitha replied as she got out and shut the door behind her.

Emily turned on the stereo and popped in a cd, Rachel's, something soothing after the stressful night and early morning. The soft strings and piano made her feel a little better, but it would take more than some nice music to make her feel good.

After about fifteen minutes, Tabitha came around the corner and got into the car. Apparently everything had gone fine. Suzy had accepted Tabitha's reason for not coming in as long as Tabitha promised to work for her next Saturday night. Tabitha had agreed gladly. Saturday night's weren't her favorite, but it was better than losing a full day's pay or getting fired.

The girls chatted a little as they made their way across town to the crappy little gas station where Becky worked the graveyard shift, part-time for a little extra cash a couple days a week. Becky was a little bit older than Tabitha and Emily. She'd been the cool, older chick who took them under her wing in high school when they were freshmen and she was a junior. She'd been the first person to give them booze, the first person to get them high, and the first person to give them ecstasy. She was like a mythic heroine to them. The wild friend that every kid needs so they can learn how to have fun despite all the annoying responsibilities of life.

She was also the first person they had told about their relationship. Becky had acted like it was the greatest thing she'd ever heard which wasn't so strange once you knew she herself was far from straight. In fact, she had tried to get into Emily's panties more than a few times, but Emily just hadn't been ready back then. Becky had been cool about it. She always was.

As Tabitha brought the car to a stop in the parking lot of the dirty, little gas station both girls got out and walked to the door. As usual the place was almost completely empty. The only other cars there were Becky's and some guy pumping gas. This was all fine by Tabitha and Emily the smaller the audience the better.