Belle of the Ball

by E.E. Nalley

 

Chapter Eleven

 

The one good thing that can be said about Morning Watch is you get the next day off.  After nothing further untoward happened Saturday night (big surprise there) Ed and I had retired to his place, courtesy of the Ginnevia express.  Much as I might have wanted a passion filled replay of yesterday evening, the only thing sexual that happened was we got undressed and got into bed together.

Then we both promptly passed out.

Early the next afternoon, I awoke alone to the noises of the shower running and Ed’s baritone carrying from the bathroom.   I floated out of his massive bed (the easiest way in or out of it I discovered) and flew towards the sound of his voice.  I don’t think Frank Sinatra had this in mind when he’d first recorded Fly Me to the Moon.  “Come on in,” he called, pausing from his gusty rendition.  “Water’s perfect.”

Sneaking up on him was proving to be something of a challenge.  One I would rise to the occasion for.  Still, there was a hot shower with water from almost every direction with my lover waiting for me.  Plots for surprising him could wait. 

At the risk of making you all intensely jealous, the only word that can describe that shower is perfection.  In short order I was completely wet, my muscles relaxed and sighing with contentment.    “This is nice,” I whispered.  He chuckled as he worked a tremendous glob of Mane and Tail into his hand.

“It gets better.  Turn around.”  I did so and tilted my head back as his strong fingers worked the shampoo into my scalp.  I cannot describe how wonderful it is to have your hair washed.  As a man, I’d just gotten the hair cut in the shortest and most expedient manner possible.  Man had I missed out.  Before I’d cursed it and contemplated asking Ginnevia who did her spiky bob number every other day when I’d washed it.  Now there were thoughts of growing it out longer.

I’m not sure how long he massaged my hair, it took me almost ten minutes, but this shower seemed to have an endless supply of hot water.  For the volume it put out, the water heater must be size of a tanker truck.  “Not that I’m complaining,” I murmured, “but how much hot water is left?  I’ve never been fond of the cold shower.”

“Never needed your libido cooled?” he asked casually.

“Don’t like having my nipples ache,” I replied.  He chuckled again.

“Fear not, fair lady, we could stay in here till we were both prunes, the water will be the same temperature.  Your nipples are safe with me.”

I snorted a laugh.  “By what magic is this accomplished?” I asked.  He pointed to a box on the wall beside the shower I could just barely make out through the steam and frosted glass of the shower stall.

“The magic of filament flash heaters.  The only water coming here is cold.  It’s separated just before that box, then what will be hot goes through it and is heated on demand.  As long as we have electricity, we have hot water.”

“Neat,” I complimented from my pleasure filled haze. 

“How are you?” he asked softly, turning me about to rinse off the shampoo.  Damn it.  As I worked the water through my hair to free it of the suds I thought how best to answer him.

“Still a bit sore, but otherwise fine.  Don’t you worry a moment about it, Ed.  You’re just a big boy and Ah’ll have to adjust.”

He grinned.  “I’ll be happy to help you there,” he said with as much sincerity as he could muster up.  Which is to say, not much.  His smile faded as he asked softly, “I didn’t scare you last night, did I?  I was a little punchy when you started digging.  Otherwise I wouldn’t have said anything…”  I reached up and put a finger across his lips.

“If you want to push me away, the easiest way is keeping secrets.  Ah wanted to know what you were thinking.  Truth is Ah was kind of dreaming about that mah self.   Ah don’t know when movie making became a nine to five job, but Ah’m sure you’ll figure some way for that.  Ah am not upset.  Surprised.  Pleased, Ah think, but not upset.”

He grinned as he kissed the finger I still had across his lips.  “You can’t know what a relief that is to hear.  Turn back around and I’ll condition it too.”  I did so and was once more lost in pleasure.  But, as there always was with me, a part was thinking about where this would go and if I was ready to be someone’s wife.  What would I do if he asked that question instead of saying it was what he wanted?  What if he gave me his mother’s ring?

I didn’t know what my answers would be and I wished I didn’t have to think about the future and let it spoil the pleasure I was getting now.  My subconscious seemed to have an afterburner as a woman and was constantly thinking and plotting things out.  It was maddening.  I couldn’t lose myself in a moment any more.  Well, not just any old moment.

Even as I became aware of the fact his washing of my skin was becoming more sexual and less hygienic I was still thinking about the whys and where fore’s of being Mrs. Filby. Is this what it meant to be a woman?  To be constantly worried about the future to the near exclusion of enjoying the present?

I didn’t know.  I had no basis for comparison.  I didn’t really have anyone I could ask, either.  Ginnevia, while well on the way to becoming my best female friend, I was a sexual object to.  That would always cloud my judgment of her advice.  There was a part of me that had lost some respect for my own mother over these new revelations, more to the point, I would never be comfortable discussing my sex life with her.  Holly was something of kid sister so I had to maintain the appearance of the know it all, or at least know it mostly big sister.

Trust wasn’t a word I’d ever use in the same sentence as Regina again.  There was no way I would risk having my personal crises be head line fodder.  I needed a confidant.  Some one who…

Edward slid ever so slowly into me and we were one once more.  The center of my universe had returned and left no room for other thoughts. 

*                                  *                                  *

Important lessons for every new girl: 

1)      Water is not a lubricant!

2)      Intercourse with a lover of ample endowment requires ample lubricant!

3)      Sex in a shower, while arousing in a fantasy setting, has its own set of rules and cautions that should not be attempted by newly ex-virgins.

Oh well, at least we could laugh at ourselves.  Ok, laughing could wait, where were we?

*                                  *                                  *

Around three I took my leave of Mr. Filby and turned the Belle Mobile towards GSU.  Ed was driving himself down to complete the editing work of the film Power Ball had so rudely interrupted.  As I had an errand or two to run myself, we’d regretfully taken separate cars, but there had been more than one triple check of our dinner plans at nine.  I was glad the leather seats of the Thunderbird had been so carefully and ergonomically engineered.

I was past sore and into ache.

My invulnerability protected me from inadvertent harm from the virile Mr. Filby, but he was huge.  Stretching without tearing has its own problems I discovered.  Once we’d relocated back to his bed, before we’d joined again I’d satisfied my curiosity about something.  With him on top of me, I’d placed his manhood on my belly, just to see how far I was stretching.  With his sizable scrotum at my crotch as though he was completely inside me, the tip of him was even with my navel. 

I shuddered as I took my exit off of I75-85 and slowed through the maze of one way streets down town.  As a man, while not worthy of a nickname like Tiny in the shower room, I knew I could never hold a candle to Ed.  Now I was holding more than a candle and all of it at that.  It was a sobering thought.

I needed help coming to grips with this.  Help I couldn’t get from the Team, or my family, or even the shrink they’d sent me to for a week who kept prattling on about some Standards named after somebody named Ben.  None of it had applied to me.  I hadn’t asked for this.  The shrink never seemed to pick up on that.  I needed someone who could.  That’s who I hoped I was going to meet.

I wasn’t sure why I’d done it, but I’d stopped off at home and changed to a wool knee length skirt, matching turtle neck sweater along with hose and ankle boots.  Thus far, I wasn’t a big fan of women’s shoes.  Few of them seemed to be made with any kind of strength to them.  There was a comfortable ruggedness with boots.  Even if moderately sexy ankle boots with a three inch heel. 

I parked the car and made my way across the campus to the Student Center where I’d arraigned to meet Cindy.

Ed was right about that.  A man never forgets his first.  Cindy was mine.

We’d dated for about four months before it took place.  While I knew I wasn’t, at the time, anywhere near Ed’s caliber of a lover in losing my own cherry, Cindy had been kind and a good teacher.  I guess you could say I’d learned everything I knew from her.  We’d stayed friends when we’d split, mostly due to class schedule pressures that pushed us apart.  I was hoping she could be that confidant I needed.

I hadn’t been this nervous about seeing her since before I’d picked her up on the date where she’d told me in a sultry voice to bring ‘protection’.  As you might expect, I saw her first.  I was a bit ashamed with myself for instantly comparing the two of us.  That wasn’t really fair.  Super Heroine’s were really in their own Class in the looks department.  Still, Cindy was cute in an Earthy and frank way.  She wore her ebony hair the longest of my few girlfriends, and it was she who had first turned me on to that particular feature.  Hers was currently in a braid down her back as she looked about for what was probably the old me.

Or a woman who looked like the old me. 

“Hi Cindy,” I said as I stopped at conversational distance.  She looked up in frank amazement.

“Jennifer?” she demanded, her mouth hanging open.  I smiled.

“The one and only.  How are you?”

“I’m…well…damn!  I’m jealous!  Can I get a shot of whatever you got?”  She stood, shorter than me for the first time in our relationship and hugged me. 

“Ah don’t think you really want a shot of what Ah got.  It has a lot of baggage with it.”  She smiled.  Cindy had the most beautiful smile.  It lit up her eyes and took a girl next door face to radiant.

“Ok, I’ll buy into that.  Is your accent stronger or is it just me?”

I nodded.  “It’s stronger.  Have you had lunch yet?”  She shook her head and I gestured back the way I’d come.  “Allow me then.  Ah need a friend and Ah hope you don’t mind if Ah impose.”

She collected her book bag and followed my lead back to the parking deck.  “You’re not imposing, Ji..Jen.  I told you I’d be here for you.  I love that out fit by the way and I must know where you got those boots.”  Yep, Cindy was good people.

*                                  *                                  *

We settled on the Varsity for lunch.  It was close, fairly inexpensive and something of an Atlanta tradition.  It had been built back in the fifties when drive in restaurants were very much in and fast food was something new.  It hadn’t changed really since and while the food was rather heavy on the grease, it was comfort food.  Besides, I didn’t need to watch my figure and Cindy decided she could splurge for a bit.

We sought out the quietest part of the place we could as I struggled for some lady like way to eat a hot dog covered in chili, cheese and coleslaw.  There isn’t one, I discovered, so I concentrated on not getting it on my outfit.  That, at least, was doable.  “So,” asked Cindy after a gulp of Frosted Orange.  “What’s on your mind?”

“Well, Ah’m not sure how to put this.  Ah need a confidant.  Ah don’t have anyone Ah can share mah problems with.  Who can tell me how a woman deals with things.  Ah don’t have the life experiences to draw on and since Ah am a woman now, Ah’m feeling… incomplete is the best way Ah can think of.  Ah know that’s a tall order, but Ah honestly couldn’t think of anyone else to turn to.”

She blinked and took another sip.  “Jennifer, I’m honored.  I don’t know what to say.  Nobodies ever really asked something that important of me.”

“Ah don’t mean to impose,” I started before she angrily gestured for me to stop.

“It’s not an imposition.  We’re friends.  We were lovers, for the love of Pete.  You’ll always be important to me.  But,” she said taking a bite of French fry.  “I get the feeling there’s something specific you have in mind, right?”

“Well, yes.  But Ah’m not sure how to tell you to get your advice without betraying any confidences from him.”

“Your secrets are safe with me, girl.  I guess nobody has given you the lesson on the Girls Code yet.  It’s Us against Them.  You might have changed sides, but you’re Us now.  Anything you tell me stays between Us.”  I laughed around another bite of hot dog.

“Ok.  Ah’ve been seeing someone…”  I trailed off as her eyes went wide.

“Already?” she demanded.  I blushed and nodded.  “Go girl!  Who is he?  What’s he like?”

“You know him.  Ed.  Ed Filby.”  I didn’t think her eyes could go any wider.

“Cavalry?  You don’t fool around, do you?  Ok, what’s he like?”  I grinned trying to think of how to describe what I was rapidly coming to believe was the perfect man.  Before I could say anything she chuckled and asked drolly, “Oh, as good as all that, then?”

“Better!” I affirmed.  “He’s a perfect gentleman; he makes a point to look me in the eyes when he talks to me…”

“Bonus points there,” she interjected. 

“Ah’ve been friends with him for a while, from before so Ah know him pretty well.”  I would have continued but she held up a cautioning finger.

“Nothing of what you know about him from before matters,” she said firmly.  “Other than strict facts that can’t be argued, where he was born, things like that.  When you hung out with him, he was hanging out with another guy, one of Them.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not disrespecting Ed.  From what I’ve heard, both from you and others, it sounds like he’s one of the good ones who needs to be bred.  But, we’ll get to that.  What’s bugging you about him?”

“Well, he’s kind of fallen for me pretty hard.”

“How hard?” she pressed.

“Married with kids hard,” I told her.   Her mouth fell open.

“He’s proposed?  In a month?”

I shook my head as I drank, trying to order my thoughts better.  “No, he hasn’t proposed.  Well, it’s like this.  Ah was having trouble with coming to grips with being a woman.  Ah was asking damn near everybody who would listen how to deal with it.  Then, my sensei and a girl friend on the team both told me the same thing from a different angle.”

“Which was?”

“Stop thinking about being a woman and just be one.”  She nodded, her eyes asking her question.  “Well, the girl friend is a lesbian who finally admitted she had a thing for me, but realized she wasn’t mah type.  So she told me to seduce Ed.”

“Did you?” Cindy whispered.  I nodded.  “And…?”  My grin could have lit up Atlanta.   “As good as all that?  Wow, good for him.  Good for you!  So, in the midst of post done it bliss he spills out his heart about all these plans he has for the woman who seduced him?”  I shook my head with a chuckle.

“No.  There was something that came up at work, and then we got Morning Watch.  About five this morning, I decided we should talk about it, and in mah digging over what he felt he finally admitted to it.”

“So, he really hadn’t wanted to tell you, but you made him?”  Again I nodded.  “Good!” she beamed, evidently very pleased.  She answered the look on my face.  “If he had just started gushing, sweetie, and then he’s a clinger and you probably ought to get yourself away from him.  But, he’s playing his cards close, but is a gentleman enough to give in when you press him on it.  That’s a good sign!  That he’s already thinking about the future with you means you’ve got your hooks in him pretty good.  Well done!”

“So, you’re saying Ah shouldn’t be worried about it?  What if he asks me and Ah’m not ready to answer?”

“Oh, sweetie, from the sounds of this he won’t work up the nerve to ask you before Christmas at the earliest.  Although, around summer he might ask you to move in with him, maybe as soon as spring.  Is he what you want?  He sounds like he’s at the top of the keeper pile.”

I became a bit frustrated.  “That’s mah problem, Cindy, Ah don’t know what Ah want!”

 “Oh…” she breathed.  “Well, how does he make you feel?”

“Huh?”

“How does he make you feel?  It’s obvious he has manners and knows how to treat a girl.  He’s a super hero so he’s got a steady job that will pay well, so he’s a good provider.  He’s studying film so he has career aspirations above his day job as a fall back so he can plan.  Materially, he sounds ideal.  All that’s left is how does he make you feel when you’re around him?”

God, I felt like I’d been given the keys to the kingdom.  Everything I’d ever wondered about the opposite sex was now laid out for me.  I finally understood women, but the price tag for it was I was one now.  Maybe I should write a book for all my ex-brothers out there. 

I chewed thoughtfully on my hotdog as I tried to place my feelings into words.  “Happy,” I said finally.  “Safe, but scared.  Like Ah’m comfortable, but Ah shouldn’t be.  It’s like Ah’ve walked into class naked, but nobody has noticed and Ah’m terrified that they will, but everyone is so friendly and supportive Ah keep getting lulled into feeling comfortable.  Does that make sense?”

She nodded after a moment.  “He’s what you want, girl.  I’m so happy for you!”

“Hold on now, Ah’ve barely been a woman for a month yet!  How can Ah be sure about something as important as this?”

“You’re a woman, Jennifer.  There’s never anything we can be sure about.  You could go play the field, but it sounds like you hit the home run at your first at bat.  I wouldn’t loose him if I were you.”

I would have asked her more about this matter but my beeper started going off.  With a ragged sigh I took it from my purse and flipped it on.  “This is Jennifer,” I told it.

It was Abin’s voice on the line.  “Jennifer, we have a situation.  How soon can you be here?”

“It’s mah day off!” I protested.

“I understand and I am very sorry.  This is important.”

“Ah can be up there in about thirty minutes Ah guess.  Ah have to drop someone off at GSU.  Call Ed and have him meet me by the drop off at the student center.  Ah’ll pick him up there.”

“Alright.  We will see you shortly.”

“Abin, this better be end of the world stuff, or Ah’ll have your head on a pike.”

“I do not think your criteria will have difficulty in being met.”

That figures.  Oh well, back to the salt mine.

*                                  *                                  *

Ed and I made the trip back up to HQ in relative silence.  He was complimentary about the Belle Mobile, but like me, annoyed we’d been called in.  His film was due by Friday and it was only about two thirds edited and was yet to be scored.  And speaking of scoring, it was a third of his grade for this semester.  Along with every body else on the project.  While responding to emergencies gave him some leniency in his attendance, missing a project deadline would be a bad thing.

As you might expect, the offices of the building were disserted on a Sunday.  Although there were a fair number of cars in the parking lot, but as most of them had the stickers of our organization on them (no, I won’t tell you what they look like) I figured something fairly major was up.

This was confirmed by the presence of all of the auxiliaries in the Round Room when Ed and I arrived there and took our seats at the Active Member table.  Geoffrey entered the room, still in his American Eagle get up, but without the helmet.  He took the podium and banged the gavel.  “This Emergency Meeting of the Stone Mountain Irregulars is called to order, if there is no objection, Roberts Rules of Order shall be disregarded for it.”

I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but no one objected.  Geoffrey continued.

“My friends, my wife and I have thought long and hard over the objections that have been raised over the duality of my position here.  We spent most of today talking about it.  I hope you’ll forgive me for calling an emergency meeting, but I felt this couldn’t wait until our scheduled meeting next month.  As a reminder, that meeting is on the twenty seventh of March.

“So, without further ado I must regretfully announce my resignation as President of this Organization.”  There was a murmur of surprise that whispered through the assembled heroes.  This was unexpected to say the least.  Everyone, myself included had thought that Geoffrey would resign as the Liaison Officer. 

A bang of the gavel returned order to the room.  “Please, my friends, this is not a decision I have made lightly.  I have been deeply honored to serve in this capacity, but I think there are many,” and he looked pointedly at me, “who would say I have done a better job as US Marshal and Liaison Officer, than I have as President.  Looking back, I’m afraid I must agree.”

He collected his thoughts for a moment before going on.  “Perhaps, it is time for some new blood and fresh ideas to be at the head of this Organization.  Someone who can pull us out of the stagnation we have fallen into.  There are desperate and dangerous times ahead of us.  I would be the first to admit I’m probably too old fashioned to make the wisest choices for these new times.”  A chorus of negative thoughts answered that statement.  It was the Surge who spoke loudest.

“There isn’t a soul in this room who thinks you aren’t capable of leading this group, Geoffrey!  Our issue is the conflict of interest!”  The Marshall nodded thoughtfully.

“I know, Hank.  Believe me; I am not taking anything about this personally.  I do have a family to think about, and, honestly I’ll be glad to have a bit more time to spend with them.  So, in keeping with our Charter when a standing President resigns between regular sessions, I must appoint a President Pro-Tem until the regularly scheduled meeting next month.  The secretary shall please make note of the vote for permanent replacement in the Old Business Items for that meeting.”

He paused as the secretary made that note before locking eyes with me again.  “That said, Ladies and Gentlemen; please join me in a round of applause for our President Pro-Tem, the Southern Belle.” 

I sat and stared as he walked from the podium and presented me with the gavel.  There was silence as he did so.  I took it woodenly then he started clapping loudly.  After a moment, the others joined him, but our looks had said it all.

Think you’re so hot, bitch?  Let’s see how you do.  His had told me.

Ok asshole, you want it dirty?  You’re on, mine had answered back.  Well, there went my week.  Looks like I’ll be having a cram session of Robert’s Rules of Order.

*                                  *                                  *

Continued in Chapter 12

 

since 03/24/04