Chapter 37
W hen they arrived at Julie’s apartment, Zoe was delighted to discover that it was just a more adult version of Julie’s student flat. The same movie posters were on the wall, now displayed in dark frames.
“You still kept this one? We hated that movie.”
Julie groaned. “But the poster is so nice and I got it for free from the cinema.”
“ I got it for free from the cinema and gave it to you,” Zoe said, unimpressed.
“Well, I still got it for free.”
Zoe shot her a look.
“Anyway, I’ll show you around.”
Julie took Zoe through her small apartment: the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom. The bedroom.
“And that’s it. My entire apartment. I know you’re not used to such luxury but I think you’ll get used to it pretty quickly.” Julie grinned. “What’s your place like in London?” She leaned against her stylish antique dresser.
“Too big, to be honest. And we were never home.” Zoe said. “It’s a nice place you’ve got. I can see myself here. I’ll put my cookbooks there.” She pointed at a shelf.
“Oh I see. You’re moving in already?”
“Yes, we’re moving fast, remember?” She approached Julie and slid her hands around her waist.
“How fast?” Julie cocked an eyebrow, but suddenly, Zoe found she didn’t have time for any more jokes.
She kissed Julie, hard and sudden, opening her own mouth against hers.
She could feel Julie gasp and her whole body tense for a moment, and then Julie kissed her back, harder, her tongue wrestling against Zoe’s.
They were in no rush, and yet every moment seemed so urgent.
Zoe felt Julie’s firm hands run on her back, under her shirt.
A second later and Zoe was lying on her back on the bed with Julie on top of her.
She couldn’t believe she’d waited all this time when it was so evident that it was what she always wanted.
Someone who made her laugh everyday. Someone who cared about her. Someone who’d always be there.
Julie sat up and threw her jacket and t-shirt away before doing the same to Zoe.
Zoe answered by reaching around and unclasping Julie’s bra.
She took a long hard look at Julie’s toned body and couldn’t help but put her hands on every inch of her.
The last time they were in this position, she hadn’t really had a chance to linger on the details.
“Do you like what you’re seeing?” Julie smirked.
“You should be forbidden from talking during sex.”
“Make me.”
Zoe obliged, sitting up and reaching behind Julie’s head to kiss her properly. With Julie straddling her around her waist, she was happy to be the taller one between the two of them.
But Julie quickly gained the upper hand again and Zoe ended on her back once more. She lifted her hips up as Julie slid her trousers down her legs. Their eyes met, and Zoe could see that Julie’s expression wasn’t cocky any longer. She wasn’t here to joke any more.
Once they were both naked, Zoe gasped as Julie’s warm naked body pressed against hers. Zoe’s nerve endings felt like they were raw. With Julie’s mouth hard against hers, it was almost too much. She had no idea what it would feel like once Julie would move to her centre.
As if Julie had read Zoe’s mind, her mouth started trailing downwards.
She kissed Zoe’s neck, then took one of her nipples between her lips.
Zoe was paralysed with anticipation as she felt Julie’s hands tightly gripping her wrists and pinning them down alongside her body.
Julie was surprisingly strong and Zoe couldn’t fight her off - not that she really wanted to.
Unable to move and with Julie’s mouth now on her thigh, Zoe’s lower body was aching with anticipation.
Zoe almost let out a scream when she felt the wetness of Julie’s tongue against her.
She tried lifting her arms, but Julie slammed them back down.
Zoe’s legs writhed as Julie’s tongue circled her clitoris.
For a moment, nothing else existed beyond the two of them in this bedroom.
The stress of the past weeks was getting wiped off and Zoe felt like her mind had never been clearer.
Julie suddenly stopped and Zoe was outraged.
“Why did you stop?” Her hips were moving furiously.
“I have a feeling you want your movements to be a bit more restrained.” Julie smiled and laid back on top of Zoe. She kissed her and Zoe tasted herself.
Zoe felt Julie’s hand slip down to her waist and dig underneath her before being promptly flipped onto her stomach. Was it really all the IKEA furniture building that made her so vigorous?
Julie slowly lowered herself down to lie on top of Zoe’s back, pinning her completely under her weight.
Zoe shivered as she felt Julie’s knee between her own, slowly spreading her legs open.
Zoe swallowed. Julie’s finger gently entered her and Zoe let out a moan that was louder than she expected.
She let another one out when she felt a second finger inside her.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” Zoe’s answer was almost a sigh.
Zoe grabbed the blanket in her fists as Julie moved inside her.
Her breath accelerated in unison with Julie’s movement.
Before long, the sensations amplified, and began to crowd out her senses as she neared her edge.
Zoe held her breath, trying to delay the moment.
They’d both been waiting for this nearly as long as they’d known each other, and she wanted to savour it.
She felt every inch of Julie’s naked body pressed against her own, felt Julie’s breath near her ear, Julie’s strong knee pushing against Zoe’s thigh.
Then she inhaled again, and Julie’s fingers touched something deep inside her just as she breathed out.
The sensations toppled into one another in an unstoppable landslide, then exploded into fireworks as she arched back into Julie, a small cry escaping her.
Zoe cried out again when she felt Julie’s hand pushing on her back to hold her down while her fingers continued to work, squeezing every last breath out of Zoe’s body.
By the time Zoe was finally still, she felt like she’d been wrung out. Every muscle in her body relaxed, her shoulders slumping forward into the pillows. It took her a moment to realise that Julie was lying next to her, holding her in her arms.
“Am I still forbidden to talk?” Julie softly kissed Zoe’s hair.
“If that’s what you do when you’re silent, I’d rather you take a vow of silence right this instant.” Zoe smiled and buried her face in Julie’s chest, with Julie’s chin resting on top of her head.
“Wow, ten years of waiting to be treated like this.”
Zoe chuckled. “And you have no idea what the next ten have in store for you.”
“I guess I’ll find out.” Julie held Zoe a bit tighter and Zoe never wanted to move ever again.
* * *
The sun was disappearing behind the sea of reddish-brown roofs.
Zoe stood barefoot on the small balcony of Julie’s fifth- floor apartment.
It felt very different from looking out at her manicured fenced garden in Battersea, but she could get used to it.
There was peace in standing above everything and looking down at the street to find that everything was tiny.
She sipped from her warm cup of tea that Julie made for her and couldn’t stop the smile that appeared as she imagined how many more evenings like this were in store for her.
This balcony. This view. And this woman.
“It feels a bit chilly, doesn’t it?” Julie appeared next to her.
“Only because it was way too warm in your bedroom.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Yours.” Zoe bit her lip and leaned against Julie, who kissed her on the cheek.
She sighed. This was the best conclusion to the insanity of the past weeks. To think that they were so recently at Yasmine’s wedding was hard to wrap her mind around. Speaking of which…
“I meant to ask - have you spoken to Yasmine? Is she alright?” Zoe hadn’t heard anything from her and felt bad for not asking sooner. At the same time, other things were happening in her life and she was happy to have time now to think about something else.
“She’s alright. It’s Yasmine. She’s a tough one.” Julie smiled. “The guy she ran away with was her ‘one that got away’. They’re not currently dating though. She had a lot of second thoughts about Adam which I never knew about and it all came crashing down on her wedding day.”
Zoe squirmed. It was a story that was all too familiar. “Poor Yasmine. I hope she’ll be fine.”
“She will.” Julie paused. “Though we should thank her because she’s the one who called me an idiot and made me confess my feelings to you.”
“You and I should get her the biggest gift possible. What if we went looking tomorrow?”
“That’s a good idea. Then maybe we could go catch a movie?”
“It’s a date,” Zoe said with a smile. “As long as it’s not anything too scary.” Julie just smiled and wrapped her arms around Zoe.
What the future had in store for them after tomorrow could wait.
For once in her life, Zoe had finally found where she belonged.
Even if the tabloids were sure to run articles about how she’d given up on her perfect life to be with some woman in Belgium.
Even if people would judge her for choosing a life away from the sparkle and the glamour, it didn’t matter.
Sometimes the best things in life are the familiar ones: a soft couch at the end of a difficult day, a friend’s smile at a pub, fries instead of a fancy dinner. Julie’s arms around her.
THE END