Chapter 2
Ingrid remained so troubled by what had transpired between her and David that she could barely concentrate on the rest of her responsibilities for that evening.
She arrived back at the apartment a few minutes past eleven.
Her girlfriend, April, was lying on the living room sofa watching the end of a motion picture.
April, who worked as an assistant buyer at a major department store, had been her roommate and confidante for the past four months. They shared a quaint, neatly furr nished apartment.
April, a striking redhead, was clad in baby dolls as she lolled on the sofa, enjoying the climax of the motion picture.
"Hey April, I really need to talk to you. It's very important," she related.
Ingrid watched as April jumped to her feet and walked toward the television set, which she shut off.
Ingrid was puffing reflectively on a cigarette as April returned to the living room holding two screwdriver glasses in her hands.
She handed Ingrid one of the glasses, then sat down opposite her on the sofa.
April watched Ingrid take a long sip from her drink. She then asked:
"So what's happening?"
"I did something that I can hardly believe I did."
"Whatever was that?"
"I had sex with a patient." She let her eyes drop toward the rug.
"I see," April said. "It really isn't all that unnatural, you know."
"Now you're sounding like him," a confused Ingrid Stevens related.
"Who's him?"
"The guy that I had sex with. He talked me into it by saying that if I felt the urge, I should go through with it. I told him about my responsibilities, but he said the very thing you just said. He said that I ought to let myself go, if that's what I felt like doing."
April was successful at calming Ingrid down a little bit.
"No, I've never been a nurse. But there have been things I've done at first I was ashamed about. Later I came to recognize that they were just varied activities."
"I mean this. I mean that I'm attracted to women. I mean that I've had sex with women."
Ingrid was flabbergasted and just stared at her girlfriend with great concern.
"I just don't understand," Ingrid said. "Tell me that this isn't true."
"Baby, not only is it true. I've been very attracted to you for a long time. I just haven't had the guts to come out and admit it. Now that you have had the courage to tell me about something that was disturbing you, I've managed to summon up the courage to tell you about something that's been disturbing me. I'm hot for you, baby, and I'd certainly like to make things interesting for you."
"You've gone this lesbian route? You really have?"
"Yes, and it's nothing to be ashamed of," she said.
Ingrid watched as April narrowed the distance between them.
She took her fingers and ran them softly around Ingrid's face. She recalled how young David Craig had done the same thing earlier that evening.
"You shouldn't. You really shouldn't," Ingrid whispered.
But her protestations sounded no more convincing to April than they had earlier to David.
She wasn't even able to convince herself. April looked absolutely striking in her babydolls, and Ingrid had felt vibrations of attraction toward her earlier, that she had done her best to suppress.
"I've just got to kiss you, baby," April said softly.
"Please. We really shouldn't."
"Like hell we shouldn't."
The next thing Ingrid knew, her friend April was slipping her finger inside her blouse. The fingers then worked their way inside her bra, and now April was squeezing her nipples.
"You're more beautiful than anything, I just can't stand it anymore," April exclaimed.
At that point April thrust her lips forward. They met Ingrid's lips with devastating impact.
Ingrid's entire body was coming unglued under the momentous impact of her lips meeting head-on with April's.