Edward and Robin

The instructor, scribbling a couple of terms and creating a diagram, was talking rapidly, his students trying to make notes as quickly as possible. Robyn was one of those not taking notes, but had furrowed her brow trying to understand the concepts being taught.

"Did you understand what he just said?" she asked of the woman sitting next to her.

"Yeah, I did."

"Good, would you explain it to me later?"

"Of course, dear."

Robyn Bernstein had returned to college after a 5-year absence. She originally started college right out of high school. Her mother passed away at the start of her junior year at the university. Care for her ailing father fell onto her shoulders. She was the youngest of four. Her parents had her late in life. She kind of figured that she wasn't exactly planned as her next nearest sibling was 9 years older than her. Being her 2 brothers and her only sister had all gotten married, had kids, and busy lives, the task of taking care of the patriarch of the family fell on her shoulders. Her mother's death broke her father's heart. His health wasn't good to begin with, but her passing caused it to get worse quicker. Just the same, he lived for nearly another 5 years before dying in his sleep one night.

Her life given back to her, Robyn decided to return to school and finish her degree. She had started out with a major in psychology as the workings of the human mind were fascinating to her. In the interim Robyn found work at a local ad agency. The owners of the agency recognized her talent and interest in the human persona and started taking her under their wings developing advertising, targeting the subliminal part of the brain. As a result, when Robyn returned to school, she switched to a Marketing major with a Psychology minor. She found the concept of convincing someone to buy a product or service, whether they needed it or not to be fascinating.

"Okay people, anyone with any questions?" the instructor turned and asked the assembled students. Waiting all of a second, "Alright then. Remember your assignment is due on Monday. No late turn-ins will be accepted. So do it or lose it. We will start on chapters 8 and 9, so make sure you have those chapters read. Have a good weekend."

Robyn looked at the woman next to her, "I swear that guy could make the concept of getting a glass of water out of the faucet a difficult concept."

Doreen smiled, "Well I bet my ex could give him a run for his money. He has to impress people with his knowledge. Jackass."

Robyn laughed. They had shared stories about their past relationships. Between working at the ad agency and taking care of her father, she didn't have much of any time to have a social life. With the exception of a few dates, some that resulted in some so-so bedroom action, she hadn't been serious with a guy since she was first in college.

Doreen had divorced her husband, Alfred, just a couple of years ago. She was older than Robyn but Robyn didn't know by how much. Doreen's husband was a domineering sort who kept life in strict order. His arrogance and demeaning attitude towards others kept their social circle to be very limited. Doreen often looked back and wondered what she ever saw in him.

Stepping up to the counter at the coffee bar, the kid behind the counter recognized his customers, "Well, hello ladies. How was class tonight?"

Doreen teasingly batted her eyes, "When are you going to come to my house and let me tell you personally?"

As anticipated, his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. The girls knew that he had just started at the same university. Doreen would tease him nearly every time they came in and he was working.

"Ah, well, you know. I would. But, man, if my girlfriend ever found out, well I wouldn't have this low of a voice."

"Well, maybe you should bring her along," Doreen replied with one hand on her hip.

"Uh, I, ah, uh," he stuttered as he put their coffee's on the counter.

"Doreen, give the poor guy a break," she laughed and looked at the tongue tied clerk. "You'll have to forgive my friend here."

The clerk had no words, his face had turned beet red. Taking their coffees, they sat in their customary booth and sipped the hot liquid.

"Doreen, you are incorrigible," Robyn said as she chuckled and shook her head.

"I know. I guess after being suppressed for so many years, I just feeling like figuring out where my boundaries are," Doreen replied with a smile and then looked down at her cup. Her husband used to be a passionate person. She had lost her virginity to him in his parents bed. His lovemaking brought her to a number of orgasms and she loved having sex with him. In recent years, however, it had become twice a month at best and it was over in less than 10 minutes. Foreplay was nearly non-existent and once he climbed on top of her and spurt his cum in her, it was over. Doreen had become accustomed to laying there afterwards, looking at the ceiling, tears dripping onto the pillow. Her only orgasms came from her fingers after he had left for work.

Robyn knew her history and frustrations from prior conversations. Both of them were quiet by nature. And for their own reasons, had small social circles. Doreen because of her oppressive husband and Robyn because of the demands between her job and taking care of her father

Robyn looked at her friend, "How long since you've had sex? I mean other than with your hand or vibrator?"

Doreen sighed and stirred her coffee, "A long time, I'm afraid."

Robyn paused for a moment, "Have you ever thought about having sex with another woman?"

Doreen looked up and tilted her head a little. They had shared a great many facets of their personal lives with each other over the weeks. They had become each other's confidant.

Cocking her head just a little, "Interesting question to ask," Doreen replied.

"Well you told that poor guy over there," pointing towards the barista that served them, "that he should bring his girlfriend along."

"Oh, that. I was just yanking his chain a little to try and get his goat," Doreen replied. She smiled and looked at the poor lad and winked. As expected, he just smiled in returned and refocused on the drink in front of him.

"Ever thought about it?" Robyn asked as Doreen turned back towards her.

Doreen looked off to the side. She had become friends with the next door neighbors, Marilyn and Dan. Neither one could stand Alfred for very long but Marilyn and Doreen would often get together. They were never close friends, not like she had become with Robyn. Doreen did find Marilyn attractive and wondered what it would be like to be in bed with her. She never had a lesbian experience but the idea intrigued her. She had found herself aroused a couple of times over the years when she was with certain women.

"Nooo, well maybe," Doreen said softly.

Doreen looked at Robyn in the eyes for a few moments. Robyn was a number of years younger than her. She thought that Robyn had a gorgeous figure that any man would die for. Or any interested woman, for that matter.

A brief silence then, "Yeah, I guess I have. You?"

Robyn nodded her head, "There was a friend of mine when I was in high school that lived a couple of houses down. She and I, well, we got to exploring each other pretty heavily."

Doreen perked up her eyebrows, "Oh? Do tell."

Robyn turned up one corner of her mouth. "Well, we were both dating and the guys we were seeing kept trying to get into our pants. I was still a virgin and I was pretty sure she was too. I thought I was unattractive. I didn't have any boobs to speak of. I was skinny. And well, I just didn't feel very appealing. Debbie, on the other hand, that's her name, was stacked. Her boobs grew. And well, I asked if I could see what real tits looked like. So she showed them to me. Before you knew it, we were both naked."

"So what happened?" Doreen asked, taking a sip of coffee, trying to hid her growing excitement.

"Well over the next few weeks we continued to get together and explore. One day, I had my legs spread apart so she could look at my pussy and she went down on me."

"Wow."

"Yeah," Robyn nodded her head in agreement. "That was the most intense orgasm I had ever had."

Doreen could feel her heart rate pick up and she had to work to keep her breathing under control. She took another sip and looked at her friend.

"We both ended up losing our virginities to the guys we were dating." Robyn looked at Doreen and broke into a smile, "The guy I was seeing was more interested in getting his rocks off and only gave minimal effort in going down on me."

Doreen laughed, her arousal still building. "So whatever happened to you two?"

Robyn smiled and looked off to the side, "Well, she ended up marrying the guy after high school. Now they live somewhere in Texas and have a couple of kids. I haven't seen her since we graduated." She paused for a moment and then turned back to Doreen. "She was the lucky one. The guy turned out to be a real gentleman. He treated her like royalty."

"And yours?" Doreen asked.

Robyn groaned a little, looked up at the ceiling and back down. "SOB took my virginity and dumped me. Asshole."

"Wasn't my ex by any chance?" Doreen asked laughing.

Robyn laughed as well, "No, last I knew, he was busted for domestic violence. Hope they hang him by his you know what."

The pair continued to talk for another hour, sharing thoughts as well as notes from the evening's class. They both liked the subject matter and agreed that the instructor probably knew his stuff but was really bad at teaching.

Looking at her watch, Doreen said, "I gotta go Robyn. I've got laundry still to do tonight and a few other things."

Pushing her mug away and picking up her things, Robyn agreed, "Yeah, I should get going too. Go home and study for a while and try to make sense of this stuff."

"No hot and heavy date?" Doreen teased.

"Yeah, right. You remember my telling you about my last date," Robyn reminded her.

"Oh yeah, the guy you met at the gym."

"That's the one. Okay in bed but boring as hell to talk to. So I'll just stick to my textbook this weekend," Robyn replied waving the book in her hand.

*****

The following Tuesday Robyn was putting together an ad layout that was given to her by one of the advertising managers. Hopefully when she finished her degree work, she would be the one handing the layout to someone else to put together.

"Robyn."

She turned to see the owner of the business approach her. Her boss was a voluptuous looking woman who she would guess was in her mid-fifties. Robyn was able to discern that she had a nice figure that still turned men's heads.

"Yes, Gloria."

"I have a client coming in at 11 that I'd like you to work with."

"Okay."

"He runs a local auto parts store and he's got some advertising he needs put together."

"Shouldn't he be meeting with one of the managers?" Robyn inquired. So far, she never worked directly with any of the customers.

"Normally, yes. But he's already got some layouts drawn out. So, I'd like you to work with him and put something together. I'm also interested to see what you can put together. I just have a sneaky feeling you are getting an eye for what works and what doesn't," Gloria smiled at her protégé.

Robyn was indeed studious. She was always asking questions about the work given to her. She was very careful to formulate the questions in a way that didn't come across as second guessing but a genuine desire to know the thought process behind a particular design. One of the account managers had even gone so far as to ask Robyn for her opinion to see how much she had learned. He was impressed and passed his impressions on to Gloria.

Right at 11 the front receptionist called out, "Robyn, someone here to see you!"

Robyn took a moment to clear her current project off her work table so that she could focus on the new assignment. She stepped to the front and paused for a moment. She looked at the man standing on the other side of the counter. She had seen him before when he had come in to meet with one of the managers. She got the impression that Gloria knew quite well as they always chatted with each other when he came in and he was always giving her admiring looks. Robyn noted that he was the same height as herself and always dressed in a casual manner, yet made even jeans and a shirt look impressive. She was taken with him but had never dared to talk to him.

Stepping forward, "Hi, I'm Robyn," she introduced herself, offering her hand.

The man smiled and shook her hand, "I'm Edward. But please call me Eddie."

"Come on back," Robyn said as she led the way to her work area.

She sat next to him as he explained what he had put together. To her, he smelled wonderful. She didn't know if it was a cologne or simply the shampoo he used. Just the same, she liked it. She asked a myriad of questions to clarify what he was looking for. Robyn took the materials he had brought with him and put them in a folder. They stood and shook hands and Robyn felt like her heart skipped a beat.

"Thanks for coming in, Eddie. I'll get started on this today and I should have some preliminary sketches for you by early next week," Robyn said.

"That's fine. I'm not running this for another two weeks. I look forward to seeing what you put together," Eddie replied. He held her hand for just a second longer than normal. His business took up a lot of his time. So much so that it killed his last relationship. He decided to focus on growing the store and opening up some branch locations and wasn't looking for a relationship. However, there was something about the woman he had just met that might change his mind.

"Yes, well, uh, should I wait for your call then?" he asked.

"Well, if you want, we could set up a time now if you'd like," Robyn replied.

"Sure," he replied, smiling at her.

She looked at him for a quick moment and then looked at her calendar. "Would 11 next Monday work?"

"That works for me," Eddie's smile grew just a little bigger.

"Great, I'll have your ad ready," Robyn said with just a touch of eagerness.

Robyn watched him leave the building. He was an unexpected surprise in her day. He was kind and unlike other guys she met, he seemed to respect what she had to say and her ideas. She was already looking forward to Monday.

Fifteen minutes later Eddie entered his auto parts store. His longtime employee, Carol, was out front restocking some shelves when she noticed her boss come in. "How'd it go?"

Eddie stopped and turned, "Really good. I think we're going to have some good ads coming up. Hopefully it will help build up more business." He stood there for a second and turned to head to the back of the store.

Carol recognized the look on his face, she had seen it before, but it had been awhile. "Eddie, what's her name?" she asked. She stopped what she was doing, looked at him and put one hand on her hip. She remembered what happened with his last relationship.

He stopped and turned, looking straight at Carol, "What do you mean?" he replied, trying to sound innocent.

"You know damn well what I mean. What's her name?"

Eddie took a deep breath and said, "Robyn."

"Eddie, I thought you said..."

He interrupted by putting up his hand and nodding his head in agreement, "I know what I said. But she's, I don't know. There was just something about her."

"Uh huh. We're not going down that road again, boss. You do and I'm going to kick you right square in the ass."

"It won't," he said, unconvincingly and turned to continue to the back of the store. He stopped just before entering the back office, "And if for whatever reason I do, you have my permission to kick me in the ass."

"Uh huh."

*****

Robyn and Doreen gathered their materials at the end of class on Friday evening and started heading out the door. Working their way through the crowded hallway, Doreen asked, "You have any plans tonight?"

Robyn looked at her friend, "The same hot date that I had last Friday."

"So that's a no then," she said and stopped just as they stepped outside. "Listen, how about instead of the coffee bar, we go back to my place. I've got some wine and some munchies to go with it."

Robyn's exposure to wine was rather limited. She was not much of a drinker to begin with. Thinking to herself for a moment, "Sure, sounds good to me. I'll just follow you."

Doreen lived about 20 minutes away. She pulled up to a modest single story home a few miles outside the city. Robyn noticed that the house had a large front porch and there were a couple of out buildings on the property. Looking around, it looked like the nearest neighbor was a half mile away.

Pulling up next to Doreen's car, Robyn got out and looked around, "I wish I could see this in the daylight. But it looks fantastic out here."

Doreen came up to her side, "It is. It was my parent's and they left it to me when they passed on. Fortunately, my ex said that as far as he was concerned it wasn't community property when we split up the assets," she said. "I grew up here."

"Wow, what a place to grow up in," Robyn replied with a touch of envy. Robyn grew up in the city. Her folks weren't that well off so the house she grew up in was quite tiny. She had to share her bedroom with her sister.

"What's in that building?" Robyn asked, pointing to a small building. It didn't look big enough to be a barn or for animals.

"That's my studio. Or at least that's what I call it."

"You said you did photography. I didn't know you had a studio."

"Yeah, I've started doing portraits in the last few months and so I converted it to be a studio."

"What was it before?"

"My dad used it as a wood shop. When he died I sold all the tools as I didn't have much use for them. It sat empty for a while until last fall when I converted it."

"Nice."

"It's chilly out. Let's go in," Doreen prompted, rubbing her hand up and down her arm laded with a textbook and notebooks.

Robyn looked around the living room when she stepped inside, "Doreen, this is gorgeous."

"Thanks. I've added a few things, but the furniture all belonged to my parent's. They loved the rustic look."

"It really looks nice," Robyn said, really liking the warmth and coziness that the room provided.

"Make yourself at home. I'll get us some wine and something to eat," Doreen said, gesturing to the room as she made her way to the back of the house.

Robyn sat down on the sofa and took in the surroundings. She could get used to this. Very easily. Her mind began to wander, wondering what it would be like to like in such a wonderful home.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Doreen entered the room with two wine glasses and a bottle of wine. "I love this place, Doreen. It's so warm and inviting."

Doreen looked around, "Yeah, it's home and has been for as long as I can remember. It's my sanctuary," she said with a smile and returned to the kitchen, returning a moment later with a tray of food.

Sitting down, Doreen picked up a wine glass and handed it to Robyn and then picked the other one up, raising it in a toast, "To good friends and to someone who's become my best friend."

Robyn blushed a little, "Aww, that's sweet. To us," as she clinked her glass with Doreen's. "Any you've become mine as well."

They talked about all manner of topics, avoiding class. It was Friday night and neither of them really wanted to focus on that right now. Robyn had one leg curled up under her and an arm across the back of the sofa, so she was facing Doreen.

Doreen set her glass down and placed a hand on top of Robyn's, "I have really grown quite fond of you, Robyn," she said as she looked at where her hand covered Robyn's. They had talked about Robyn's experience being with another woman. While Doreen never had, their conversation about sex resulted in Doreen developing a desire to try woman to woman with Robyn. She wasn't sure how Robyn felt. Her mind was going in multiple directions. On one hand, she cherished the friendship that she had with Robyn, yet she wanted to experience sex with her, but at the same time was afraid that any approach that she made would destroy that and send Robyn running.