Denise placed the personal ad because she was bored, mostly.

Three months of living on her own in Benton Harbor, Michigan had not been a terrific boon to her sanity. It was a crappy little town off the interstate with fast food chains and a couple of bars, but when you looked closer to find all the tremendous depth that always lurks in Smalltown, America (at least, so she'd always been told) you found ... nothing. The people here weren't even all that different in an interesting sort of way. They were just like the people in every other place she had ever lived, except less social.

Denise couldn't wait until this internship was over and she could leave this hellhole. Until then, though, she was making a last-ditch effort to find a friend to do something-- anything!-- with.

The voice-personal number she'd found advertised in the local rag looked geared towards people seeking to hook up, but there was a caption which said "Meet New Friends", so it obviously wasn't completely romance-oriented. When she called, though, the "Romance" and "Friends" categories weren't explicitly split out. She wasn't interested in any of the men around here, even as friends, so she ended up perusing the ads in the Women Seeking Women category. To her dismay, most of the ads turned out to be lesbian or "bi-curious" women out to meet and have sex with other women, which wasn't what Denise wanted at all; she was comfortably heterosexual, thankyouverymuch.

There were, however, a few ads from women looking for friendship only, so she didn't feel too uncomfortable leaving a similar ad:

"Hi, this is Denise in Benton Harbor, and I'm not a lesbian or a bisexual or any of those things; I'm just looking for a friend to go out with and find something to do in this godforsaken town! Can someone please help me out here? Contact me at mailbox 3227. Bye!"

A week later she called the ad service back, realizing how negative her ad sounded and planning on changing it, and was pleasantly surprised to be informed she had a message in her box! She, of course, had to pony up her credit card number to listen to it, but it was a small price to pay for a potential cure for her ennui...

The respondent's name was Kathleen, and she sounded very nice; Kathleen left her phone number and asked Denise to call her any night after six. Excited at this prospect, Denise called her that same evening and, after exchanging some pleasantries, the women decided to meet that night at a local dive called The Harlequin Romans. Denise wasn't sure what the two were going to do together, but Kathleen told her not to worry-- she had a couple of ideas! Denise was to look for a woman with medium-length dark hair and a green dress.

Denise showered and hopped into a jean skirt and a nice blouse, adjusted her makeup a bit, and hopped in the car for the ten-minute drive to "Harlequin". The place was pretty deserted, she saw while parking her car, so she figured she and Kathleen wouldn't be staying there very long.

The hostess let her in the door, and she looked around the small, poorly-lit bar. Two other patrons were in the place-- one, an older guy wearing a golf hat, was watching the Chicago Bulls lose to the Detroit Pistons; the other, a greasy-looking fellow in a shirt with some auto-mechanic insignia on it, was in a corner booth with three glasses of some clear alcoholic beverage. Either Kathleen wasn't here yet, or she wasn't coming.

Denise sat down at a table in the middle of the establishment, and ordered an apple martini from the waitress; she stared off into nowhere, bored silly. A couple of minutes later, a woman in a green dress stepped out of the restroom, and Denise smiled thankfully when the woman spotted her and extended her hand, smiling.

"Denise?" she asked. Kathleen's dress was very smart, looking like she had ordered it from the back of a designer catalog. It was short, silken, jade-colored, and had a provocative slit slightly off center, revealing no small amount of leg when she walked. There was something odd about her hose, but Denise couldn't place it. "I'm Kathleen! It's nice to meet you!"

"Hi, Kathleen! Thanks for coming. I was worried about whether you'd abandoned me or something." She grinned.

The other woman grinned back. She had a charming smile, and alluring green eyes that matched her dress; her dark brown hair was cut in a businesslike style, and she definitely looked like she had too much culture for this town ... Unfortunately, Denise didn't feel dressed quite up to the same snuff; she even felt a little dumpy by comparison. When she mentioned this, Kathleen reassured her that she enjoyed dressing up, wherever she went, and that anyplace they went tonight would not require anything more formal than what Denise was wearing, or even less. "But first," Kathleen insisted, "let's have a couple of drinks up at the bar!"

Denise agreed to this, although she kind of wanted to get wherever they were going that was not here, in all honesty. But Kathleen led the way to a corner of the bar out of view of the rest of the place and sat down on a stool, gesturing Denise towards another. Kathleen crossed her right leg over her left, her nylons making a swishing sound as she did so. Again, Denise thought there was something odd about her hosiery, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Kathleen ordered their drinks-- another martini for Denise, and a gin-and-tonic for herself. She started asking questions about Denise's life, and what she was doing in Benton Harbor, but for some reason Denise couldn't concentrate very well. Her gaze kept being drawn to Kathleen's legs, and she tried not to stare as she attempted to figure out what was so odd. Kathleen's legs were nice, Denise thought, and the black hose complemented them well. Now and then, Kathleen would uncross her legs and then re-cross them, switching which leg was on top, and making that interesting swishing sound as they ran over each other. It was during one of these crossings that Denise finally discovered what was bothering her about Kathleen's legs: she wasn't wearing pantyhose at all, but those stay-up thingys that they had in the Victoria's Secret catalog. Actually, they looked to be the kind of hose that were held up by those strappy-things instead of by their own tight bands.

The mystery solved, Denise could concentrate on what Kathleen was saying and asking. What did Denise do for a living, did she have family around here, did she have a boyfriend? Denise answered as best she could, but she was still distracted for some reason every time Kathleen would

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revealing the darker black tops of the hose, and sometimes even one of those straps that held it up. Denise started feeling embarrassed as Kathleen pivoted her stool to face Denise directly. Had she noticed Denise staring at her legs instead of concentrating on the conversation, and was she trying to more rigorously engage Denise so she would pay better attention? Denise met her eyes directly, and answered that she was a student intern at a local radio station, that her family was in Indiana, and that she didn't currently have a boyfriend. Kathleen smiled broadly and

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showing off more dark nylon top; Denise almost thought she could see above the top of the nylon, where bare leg lurked. She looked away quickly, as Kathleen was starting to detail their plans for the night and Denise figured this nice chick was going to think she was a weirdo for staring at her legs the whole time.

Kathleen was quietly saying something about going to someplace called Deeper, which Denise had never

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heard of, but which must be a lounge or other club, as Kathleen insisted that Denise would be quite relaxed.

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There was more about going to Deeper, but Denise was having a hard time listening to what Kathleen was saying. She was now staring quite unabashedly at Kathleen's

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legs, as Kathleen talked about how nice and soothing it was at Deeper. Actually, that wasn't exactly what Kathleen had said, but Denise was too distracted by

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the black nylon hose and their straps and the delightful swishing sound they made when they passed over one another to bother with proper grammar. This Deeper place sounded like a great place, and Denise couldn't quite figure out why Kathleen was describing it over and over

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and telling Denise she should go there, but yet never actually suggesting that they leave where they were sitting. Denise was sure there was a good reason, but her thinking was getting kind of muzzy at this point; she must have had more to drink than she

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thought. Kathleen was crossing and uncrossing her legs once per minute now, and Denise's eyes were glued to them as they scissored

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then

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revealing the full dark portions of the hose, and a bit of bare thigh at the top more often than not. And Kathleen's discussion gave Denise an increasing desire to go Deeper. Or to Deeper. Or something. God, her head was fuzzy. Still staring at Kathleen's nylons

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she apologized to Kathleen, saying that she felt very drunk and that she probably wasn't very good company. Nonsense, insisted Kathleen, smiling broadly,

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Denise was just enjoying herself and should relax as she went Deeper. In fact, Kathleen was going to take her Deeper right now, and Denise should follow Kathleen to her car.

Denise was glad they were finally leaving the bar, and she trailed Kathleen out into the night, noticing for the first time that Kathleen's nylons had a stripe up the back of each one, leading up into the darkness of her skirt. She hadn't been able to see that while they were sitting down, since she had been facing Kathleen's front. Eyes glued to Kathleen's stride, Denise walked out of the bar and across the parking lot to a black sedan. Kathleen opened Denise's door for her, belted her in, then went around to the driver's side and entered the car herself. Denise smiled happily as Kathleen's dress hiked up a bit while she sat down and put the car in drive. The dress's slit was on the passenger side, and Denise could now see an expansive amount of Kathleen's long legs, with the dark part of the hose accenting the pale upper thigh it lay next to. The straps were dark green, she could now see, and not black as she had thought back in the yellow-lit bar.

"Where are you taking me?" Denise asked.

"Deeper. Just lie back, relax, close your eyes, and I'll do the rest."

That sounded like a great suggestion, and Denise's eyelids dropped shut as the other woman hit the accelerator. Her last view before she closed her eyes was of black-clad supple thigh as Kathleen's muscles worked the car's pedals.

The drive was pleasant, and Kathleen talked to her throughout. Denise couldn't quite follow what her new friend was saying, but she found herself responding when prompted to answer a question. She wasn't sure what she was saying, but she must not have sounded that stupid because Kathleen was satisfied with the answers and started talking even more. She was using words Denise had heard before and had never used herself, but that was okay because what she was describing was very important to her and Denise absorbed it all and filed it away for future use. An uncertain amount of time later the car stopped and Kathleen snapped her fingers in front of Denise's face, telling her she could wake up. Denise came fully awake at this and realized how rude she had been.

"I'm so sorry," Denise said. "I go on and on about how boring Benton Harbor is, and then I go and fall asleep on you the first time we ever do anything together! You must think I'm nuts!"