Chapter 10
An hour later, although it might have been a lifetime later, Melanie found herself, wandering aimlessly on the road leading back into the village. She had no set destination, only a desire to be alone, to try to reclaim her own soul and her spirit. She did not feel safe in returning to the dormitory. She could not bear to face Kate or any of the other girls in her present state of mind. The only person she would have given her life to see at that moment would have been Ursula, the only person in the world who would understand, who would be kind enough to listen.
The moment she thought about the extent of her debasement at the mercy of Mr. Briar, she felt the tears of shame springing back to her eyes. Her eyes were swollen and red and she assumed that she must look like a wreck. The feeling of sickness was so severe that she could not control it. She longed to put an end to all the ugliness that had entered her life in such a short period of time.
It had been an ugly nightmare, an eternity of agonized torment with Mr. Briar, so ugly that when the moment of awakening had brought it to an end, she felt like she wanted to die. But the thoughts of death had not remained with her for very long, once she was free to go, once she was able to breath in fresh air and collect her thoughts. She was young and strong and there was a life ahead for her. She felt that she had stepped into the fires of hell as a form of punishment, to burn away all the confusion and now it was over and she had come through it, perhaps a wiser and more conscientious person. One thing was certain. She promised herself that she would never allow herself to be placed in such a humiliating position again. Now that it was over, she had to put it all behind her, filing it in a section of the distant unreal past.
Her mind was so clouded with thoughts of the past, the present and the future, that she did not hear the approaching car as she crossed over to the other side of the road with the intention of heading back toward the dormitory. Suddenly she heard the ear-splitting screeching of tires on the pavement, of brakes being applied and before she was aware of what had happened, the car swerved to the other lane of the road to avoid hitting her and came to a violent stop.
It had all happened so quickly, Melanie did not even have an opportunity to flinch or to jump back off the road. She turned see a white Ferrari halted on the road just in front of her.
Ursula!
The rangy brunette hopped out of the car and ran over to her. "Melanie, are you all right? My God that was close." Ursula's dark eyes took in the disarray of Melanie's clothing, the tangled dishevelment of her hair and the swelling beneath her bloodshot, tear stained eyes. "Melanie, baby, what has happened to you? I've been looking everywhere for you. I went back to the party, I went to the dorm...."
Melanie felt like crying but there were no more tears left in her to shed. She started laughing, laughing from relief and happiness, building to an almost state of hysteria. "Oh, Ursula, if you only knew how happy I am to see you. Please take me with you ... any place."
"What's happened, Melanie," the older girl demanded. "Tell me. What is it?"
"Mr. Briar," she muttered tonelessly, shuddering with the memory of it.
"Oh, my God," Ursula winced with awareness. "When?"
Melanie shrugged tiredly and hung her head. "He was waiting for me at the dorm. He took me to a place and forced me to...." A convulsive tremor rocked her huddled body and she looked up desperately at Ursula. "Don't take me back there. I never want to go back to that school again. And please, don't leave me, Ursula. I know you hate me for what I did, but...." The tears came and she sobbed, covering her face with her hands. "Oh, God .
"That bastard ... that filthy bastard," she heard Ursula mutter to herself and she felt Ursula's strong hands guiding and supporting her to the front seat of her car. "You're coming home with me and we're calling a doctor. And then we're calling the authorities."
"No, Ursula, that isn't necessary. I haven't been raped. And I don't want you to call anybody. It's over now. I just want to forget about it."
"We'll talk about that later, after you've had a warm bath and a drink and are able to relax."
Melanie watched the dark-haired beauty start up the car and drive off. "Do you hate me?" she asked softly, the tears blurring her vision.
"No, I don't hate you, baby. I could never hate you, no matter what you did."
Melanie turned away and started to cry again. "It was cheap and cruel and vile...."
"That's enough," Ursula ordered. "There'll be plenty of time to talk after we get back to my place."
"What about your father? Won't he be there?"
"No, I put him up in a hotel in town. We will be alone-all alone."
Melanie allowed Ursula to peel off her clothing once they had reached the warmth and security of the lodge. Melanie rattled on aimlessly with few of her sentences connected but enough so that Ursula was able to piece together what had happened. She let Melanie rattle on and on, as she prepared a hot bath for the girl, hoping that it would be good if the red head got it all out of her system.
"I wanted to die, Ursula. It was so ugly. But I couldn't let him go to the Dean. My parents ... and the scandal. And if I didn't do what he ask, he wanted money ... he was going to involve you and Sheila and some of the others, if you didn't come up with a sum of money. He was even going to involve his wife. He is sick, sick, sick."
"He should be locked up," Ursula remarked. "Why didn't you send him to me? I could have handled him. I could have paid him off."
"I don't know. I kept thinking about you. I guess because I suddenly discovered that I'm in love with you. I didn't want to be the cause of hurting you again-you had said never involve The Witchwags-and I guess I just wanted to protect you."
"What did he do?"
"He made me take off my clothes and stand before him. Then he took off his clothes. He was so disgusting to look at. He touched me all over and then ... and then he made me touch him. I was so sickened by the sight of him I thought for awhile I was going to throw up. And then he grabbed my hair and forced me down on my knees and made me ... Oh, Ursula, it was horrible. Horrible."
"My poor baby," Ursula murmured, crouching to ease the panties down her legs. "Try not to think about it any more. Come on, step into this bath I've drawn for you. It will make you feel better."
"I did so want to see you again, Ursula," Melanie mumbled, letting Ursula assist her into the tub, leaning on her as she slid down into the steaming water. "I'm going away. I just can't stay here."
"Shut up," Ursula commanded softly, resting her knees on the bath mat at the side of the tub, her hands working the soap into a foamy lather. "Lean back and close your eyes."
The scented heat clouded Melanie's thoughts and she felt her body falling under the magical spell of the pervading warmth. The muscles in her legs were beginning to relax under the loving care of Ursula's hands. She felt a heaviness creep through her limbs as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes obediently. "I feel so ... dirty," she whispered.
"I know," Ursula interrupted bitterly, understandingly. "The bastard knew he had you on the spot, so he decided to gamble. I wish I had been there to handle him. I've met his kind before." Ursula sighed and Melanie felt the hands move up to her breasts. "Don't worry, baby. I'll fix him and he won't bother you again. He won't bother anybody again."
"He won't have the chance," Melanie murmured drowsily, as her relaxation increased by the feeling of Ursula's hands sliding across her breasts. "I'm leaving Turbenthal. The Witchwags. All of it. I'm through with all that ugliness."
"I guess I can't blame you."
Melanie opened her eyes to look at Ursula. "You're the only good thing that's happened to me since I came here. You're the only person I'll miss. I'll miss you terribly, Ursula."
Ursula sank back on her heels as their eyes met and held for a long moment. "You mean that?"
Melanie nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "Yes, I didn't know how much you meant to me until it was too late. I don't expect you to forgive me. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forgive myself. But I want you to know that ... well, that I'll never forget you, Ursula. Never."
Ursula seemed moved by the words. She nodded, in a preoccupied manner, indicating a partial acceptance of the declaration of Melanie's love. "Stand up and let me rinse you off."
Melanie rose unsteadily, aware that tiny white suds clung to her glistening breasts and hips and thighs, aware of Ursula's dark eyes moving over her nudity in serious reflection. "Is it too late for us, Ursula? I mean, could you ever forgive me?"
Ursula rose to her feet and smiled sardonically. "There's a saying about people in glass houses ... Olivia's a tramp but an appetizing little tramp. I should know her methods."
"You?"
Ursula nodded as she busied herself in cleansing Melanie's naked body of the soapy froth. "We got along beautifully for awhile. You might say our ... personalities ... meshed quite well, but only for awhile." Ursula brushed back a lock of hair from her eyes and smiled warmly at Melanie. "Yes, baby, I can forgive you. And it isn't too late. In fact this may be the very beginning."
"Oh, Ursula."
Ursula laughed throatily as the young redhead sought to reach out and embrace her. "Hey, watch out. You'll slip and break your beautiful neck. Here, step out and let me dry you. Then it's into bed for you ... and a good night's sleep."
Melanie complied eagerly, stepping out to the fluffy bath mat. It seemed incredible that her body should be tingling with such renewed awareness and that the aching tiredness should be all but forgotten. She felt alive again, both physically and emotionally, and the nightmare that had haunted her was rapidly fading from her mind. She stood quietly as Ursula patted a soft towel over her body and she drew a strange satisfaction from the fact that her nipples were still capable of hardening with sensitivity. When Ursula turned back to powder her body, she shivered with embarrassed delight. "I can't help it," she murmured, covering her nipples with her fingertips. "I guess it's because I feel so happy."
"It's amazing what a few minutes in a hot tub can do for a girl."
"Yes, it is, isn't it?"
"Stop squirming you little minx." Ursula tossed the powder puff aside and took hold of Melanie's hand. "Okay, baby, to bed."
"Yes, let's," Melanie replied impishly, unable to contain her revitalized exuberance.
Ursula frowned again, as they walked together into the outer room. "Don't start getting any ideas, young lady. You might be happy but you're also exhausted. Go on, get into bed."
"Only if you come with me."
"You're impossible."
"I'm in love," Melanie stated softly and truthfully.
They looked at one another, smiling, and Ursula's fingertips rose slowly to caress Melanie's cheek. "All right, you win," the taller girl murmured. Then, raising her other hand, to frame Melanie's face and tilt it upward, Ursula moved in to press her lips on Melanie's mouth.
Melanie leaned hungrily toward the stronger girl, her arms curling around Ursula's narrow waist, her lips parting and searching. "I do love you," she breathed, feeling her body throbbing with want and love and need. "Oh, Ursula, I do, I do, I do...."
Ursula kissed her savagely and then guided her to the bed. Melanie waited, her arms folded above her red hair, her nakedness twitching with impatience. She watched the flawless beauty of Ursula's superb body become revealed to her and the hunger in her quickened with a suddenness that made her bite on her lip in impatience. She knew that her love was real and true and filled with a promise for the future.
"Hurry, my darling," she whispered, squirming uncontrollably atop the soft coverlet of the bed.
Ursula paused to stare down at her. "Believe it or not, there are moments when I wish I were born a man. You're beautiful. Almost too beautiful to believe."
Melanie moaned with happiness as the naked girl slid down beside her on the bed. Arms looped around each other's waist, their hands slowly savored the smoothness of each other's skin. "I'm glad you're not a man, Ursula," the young red head murmured dreamily, kissing Ursula's lips in tiny pecks. "I like you much better just the way you are, but if you were a man, I'd love you just as much." Melanie eased closer so that their bodies meshed and she could inhale the wonderful aroma of Ursula's short dark hair. "Oh, Ursula, hold me and never let me go!"
Ursula's moist lips moved on Melanie's cheek and throat and shoulder. "Never, baby, never."
"Tell me you forgive me."
"I forgive you."
"Tell me you love me."
"I love you."
"Tell me you want me."
Ursula groaned and pushed Melanie back on the bed and attacked Melanie's thrusting breasts freely and fiercely. The sounds of their mutual gasps and cries mounted in volume as the one-sided love making progressed at a feverish pace. It was as though each tiny kiss, each artful caress, each tantalizing shifting of their bodies, was cleansing Melanie of all the sordidness she'd experienced. She felt bathed in delight and sensation and pleasure and it was impossible for her to control these spasms of ecstasy that wracked her.
The need to reciprocate, to give vent to her own feelings of love became too intense to deny. Melanie cried out and seized Ursula hungrily, pulling her closer and covering her beautiful face with adoring kisses. "Let me love you too," she gasped breathlessly, running her hands down the sinuous body she had come to worship in a new and wonderful way. "Please, Ursula, I want to love you too."
The older girl went taut. "No, baby, don't," she breathed. "You know how it is with me. You don't have to-. "
Melanie blurted out her desperation. "I can't help it. Besides it has to be this way for us. It's the only way it can last. It can't be all one-sided. Please, Ursula, try. Just this once, try. I want to love you so badly."
The sleek brunette surrendered to Melanie's embrace by degrees, reluctantly, fearfully. She sank down into the softness of the bed and her fingers combed Melanie's red hair as Melanie moved to capture the stiffly pointing nipples. Melanie heard Ursula's sharp intake of breath and her pleasure in satisfying herself was tempered by a desperation to succeed in breaking down the walls of Ursula's resistance. All at once she wished she were more experienced, more knowing, more aware of the intricacies of love-making. Then, as her hands moved over the warm smoothness of Ursula's thighs and her lips savored the sweetness of Ursula's breasts, she was incapable of all thought and her love-making sprang solely from her love and need.
Then she heard Ursula whisper "Oh Melanie, for you anything."
For Melanie, the sound of those heated words signaled an end to all doubts that had filled her as to the texture of lesbian love. The moments that followed offered even more proof and it was as though an entirely new world was being revealed to her for the first time. The absolute totality of both giving and receiving to such a degree of intensity gave her a feeling of completeness that defied all description. It was wild and wonderful and so beautifully uninhibited as to be incredibly pure in its honesty. Then she knew, even as they shared the monumental fulfillment of their love, that it would always be wonderful for them in the future.
They remained close as the final spasms of spent passion wracked their naked perspiring bodies. "Was it all right for you?" Melanie asked, nestling closer, feeling her eyelids drooping.
"I guess I could get used to it."
Melanie's eyes popped open and she lifted her head.
Ursula laughed and kissed her. "I loved every wonderful second of it, you little red headed fool. It was ... well, it was something I never thought possible for me."
Melanie relaxed happily. "I'm glad," she murmured sleepily, closing her eyes.
Ursula stirred slightly. "Hey, before you go to sleep ... I want to tell you something."
"What?"
"When you leave dear old Turbenthal, you leave with me."
Melanie smiled drowsily. "I know."
"We will leave together and drive down to Italy to my father's place at the shore."
"Sounds delightful."
"Money's something we don't have to worry about."
"That's good."
"Then wherever you want to go, wherever you want to settle, that will be it, as long as we go together."
"I wouldn't want it any other way, Ursula."
"Okay, my little Yanky baby. I just thought I would make it official, that's all."
"Make it official again tomorrow and the next tomorrow and the tomorrow after that," Melanie sighed with a yawn as she curled herself into a cozy ball of flesh. "We'll have a good life together, maybe even start a business of our own."
"A good life together," Ursula repeated as she enveloped Melanie gratefully into her arms. "Yes, we'll try for that, baby."
Melanie Stevens smiled in her sleep.