Chapter 2: New Friends

Chapter 2: Making some new friends

I gave up my Friday night shift bar tending so that I could leave early. That's one of the best nights of the week so there were plenty of people eager to take it from me. And I knew I was giving up several hundred dollars in tips for the night. But as much as I needed the money to pay off my dobro, I needed to see Allie again even more.

Allie and I hadn't talked about any plans for the weekend, so I had packed a variety of outfits. I was running through my head about anything else I would need to bring, but wasn't too concerned; it was just two days. I decided to leave my laptop at home, the last thing I intended to spend my weekend with Allie doing was looking at a screen. But I did check my email first, before leaving.

And after deleting all the spam, ads, and other useless notifications about stupid shit, I saw one from Alex. She was the one I'd met with her fiance, they were at the World Championship last LDTS in Lexington. She let me know that she and Tammy had done what we discussed. They had organized a group for their District Group (to the extent that setting up a website for it is organizing one), and wanted to talk about next steps. Alex would be the DG organizer and Tammy wanted to compete this year. She asked whether we could have a call some time to talk more about it.

I was excited, I always love to see more people get involved in the game. And I felt like they would be serious competitors too. We have very few who really can compete at the level of me and Allie. I think that 9th grader from last year - what was him name, Ryder? maybe - he was going to be good soon. He had done really well last year. I had a feeling that Tammy was going to take this seriously, maybe even give Allie a run for her money. I sent Alex a reply, saying I'd love to talk with them about it, and copied Meri so she could get them added to the roster.

I was in such a hurry driving over to see Allie that I'm sure I would have gotten multiple speeding tickets, if the traffic hadn't been dense enough to hold me back. It was moving at a good rate though, so as impatient as I was, I just stuck with the same speed as everyone else. I couldn't wait to tell Allie about the email from Alex, maybe she would want to call them with me over the weekend.

I surprised myself by how excited I was to be going to see Allie, and I was still trying to wrap my head around her being my girlfriend. I had been telling myself for so long that I hated her, it didn't seem possible. Molly and I had been together for over 3 years and I couldn't remember a time I'd been actually giddy to be with her. Contrary to my sister's opinion, Molly wasn't a bitch at all. We'd had a lot of good times together, we just never seemed to be able to connect on an emotional level. Deep down I knew it's because I'm ace, I just couldn't satisfy that need of hers. I wondered if the same thing is going to happen now with Allie.

When I finally arrived and she she ushered me in I saw that Allie's apartment was small, but perfectly adequate. She didn't have much in the way of decorations, everything was functional. If it didn't have a specific purpose, it seemed like Allie wouldn't have it. That seemed so typical of what I knew about her.

She had a lot of books though, and I mean a lot. I was kind of envious; OK, a lot envious. I didn't have the money to buy so many books. And until a few months ago I would have had nowhere to put them. I'd had to content myself with spending a lot of time at the library, which I didn't mind at all. But now that I'd bought my grandmothers house maybe I could start acquiring a collection.

"Allie, wow, that's a lot of books. How many of them have you actually read?"

"Almost none of these. These are the ones I'm planning to read this year. All my other ones are at my parent's house because I don't have enough room here. I'll show them to you tomorrow, if you want."

I started to be surprised at first when she said she hadn't read these, but after her explanation it made perfect sense. Figures, that is exactly something she would do, I thought in my head. Obviously she would not have books on the shelf that she had already read, that would be superfluous.

"So I'm meeting your parents tomorrow then?" I wasn't sure if I was nervous about that or excited. We'd been dating not even one week yet, but then again, she had met my parents after less than one day. We hadn't planned that though, so it was different, I told myself.

"Yes, we're having breakfast with them, at 8:30. So we have two hours first for coffee together before we go meet them."

I didn't think coffee together in the morning was such a big deal to me (even though I've talked about it a dozen times already in this story), but hearing that Allie specifically planned that into our morning for me was overwhelming.

"Oh Allie!" I rushed to her and threw my arms around her and gave her the biggest, sloppiest kiss ever. "That will be so perfect, thank you!"

When we finally came up for air she was grinning at me.

"You're so easy Jenny, all I have to do is make you coffee and you will eat my pussy," she repeated her words from Sunday morning.

"I'll do it right now if you want me to Allie."

I was learning something about myself: the most important thing about a relationship for me was having my partner do something specifically for me. And it didn't have to be anything big either. Allie would have made herself coffee in the morning anyway so it was nothing special, but she made it special by turning it into two hours we would spend together instead of just getting a dose of caffeine. Molly had never done anything specifically for me, she had just brought me along with whatever she was doing for herself. I thought about what my sister had told me on Monday; then I remembered my mom saying she thought Allie would be good for me. I almost hoped that Allie would ask me to get on my knees and eat her out right there - I totally would have done it.

"I would like you to, if you want to do it later. But you're probably hungry, don't you want to eat first?"

I started to make the predictable lesbian reply to that but Allie saw it coming.

"Not me, Jenny, dinner. Should we have dinner first? We can decide what to do after dinner while we are... having dinner."

She already had dinner ready and waiting for me. And I could see she had put a lot of effort into it (did I mention that Molly rarely even helped me cook?), there was barbequed pulled pork, coleslaw, a bean dish of some sort I didn't recognize, green beans in some kind of sauce/ glaze. This girl was going to get me fat if she was going to make a habit of feeding me like this. And I wondered how she stayed so skinny.

We talked easily through dinner. The food was excellent and I asked her about all her recipes. She explained the way she made each of the dishes and promised to teach me. The bean dish was her own invention, but it was really just a very carefully balanced and prepared mix of standard ingredients. I was not surprised to learn that she kept notes while she was cooking and then again made careful notes of the results, so that she could slightly revise and improve each dish. I also noted that she did not touch the pulled pork, she had made that specifically for me only.

"Allie, about being a vegetarian, do you just not like meat or is there, like a philosophical reason?"

"Right, it's more of a philosophical reason. I like the taste of meat well enough, but I don't like the way that livestock is treated; I don't like the outsized impact that animal production has on the environment. I don't want to encourage that behavior. And I think that with a little imagination, I can make things without meat that taste every bit as good."

"I absolutely agree with you about that. This bean dish is at least as good as the pulled pork, and your BBQ is among the best I've ever had. I'm not going to let this pork go to waste, believe me, but you don't have to make if for me. Honestly, I never really thought about all the problems with animal agriculture, but now that you pointed it out I agree with you about that too. Not saying I'll never eat meat again, but I don't want to encourage it either."

I helped her clear up, and I really enjoyed being in her kitchen with her. I washed dishes while she gathered up the leftovers and put everything away. Nothing seemed like a chore when we were doing it together.

"Oh Allie, guess what? I got an email from Alex, she and Tammy are starting a group up by Pittsburgh."

"Who are they?"

"They are the couple we met at the World Championship last year, remember? They are both engineers, I did an interview with them for the article I wrote."

"Are you sure I met them? I'm pretty sure the only person I met there is you, and only because you made me go to that meeting that I didn't want to go to."

"What are you talking about, you and I met way before that? But I'm hoping to have a zoom call with them, hopefully this weekend. I'm sure you'll recognize them."

"Well I guess you and I did sort of meet before that, you were at the same competitions, but I don't call that really meeting." She paused for a moment, "Jenny you're going to think this is weird, but I can't recognize people's faces very well. Like I have to really know them to recognize them. When you told your mom on Sunday that the first time we met was three years ago, I was surprised. I mean, I remember being there, and talking to someone about joining, but I had no idea that had been you. Well and then....."

"And then, what?" it seemed like she was debating whether to continue.

"There was another woman there too, probably with who probably had been you. And she was kind of a bitch. You know I'm not good at reading people, but it was obvious even to me that she was pretty selfish and inconsiderate. So I kinda didn't like either of you."

"That would have been Molly. You saw Molly last Saturday night, was it her?"

"I just told you Jenny, I can't recognize people. If Molly walked in the door right now I'd have no idea who she is."

"Seriously? Wow. But you can remember like, everything!"

"Weird, right? So if you told me every single fact about her: eye color, height, weight, birthday, shoe size, whatever, I would remember it. But I wouldn't recognize her when I saw her. The label for it is prosopagnosia, but I don't like labels. I get labeled too much. Usually I recognize people by their voices, if I take the trouble to remember them. But for most people, I don't put in the effort to actually add them to my memory. So I'll remember an event, and I'll probably remember what people said to me, but I'll have no idea who the people are."

By now we had finished cleaning the kitchen and were sitting on the couch. She had grabbed a few bottles of Redd's out of the fridge for us on the way. Again, I was touched by how she remembered to stock up on Redd's for me.

"Allie I think we really are going to be good for each other. This is exactly like the rivals-to-lovers trope. The first time you met me you hated me, and then eventually we end up together."

"No, this is the friends-to-lovers trope, because I didn't know that was you. And you never hated me. So the first time we met, in my mind, we became friends, and then after three months, lovers."

I wasn't going to correct her on that, and admit that I had hated her for over two years before she even knew I existed, apparently. So I skipped over that part and went to the happily ever after part.

"Regardless how it started, then we both fell in love with each other," I said blithely.

"Did we? Are we both in love with each other?"

Oh shit! Did I just say that out loud? We've been dating for exactly six days, and I just dropped the L word. Not only did I imply that I'm in love with her, but that I also believe she's in love with me. Well at least I do hope she is in love with me, right? I do? I hope that? I would only hope that if I really am in love with her. What to say now.... she takes everything very literally, no jokes now.... choose your words carefully. I clearly am taking too long to answer.

"Jenny? Are we?"

"Allie," I took a deep breath. "You told me you're not good at reading people so I'm trying to be careful to say the right thing, and not give the wrong impression. I like you, a lot. I know it's usually a bad idea to use the L word only six days into a relationship, and I hope I didn't scare you off."

"But-.... I'm sensing a 'but' coming next."

"No, I do. I like you a lot and I hope I didn't scare you off. I hope you don't want to dump me now because this is going too fast, or something. I know this is your first relationship, and you were a virgin until six days ago. Maybe you think I'm being to pushy and you aren't ready for anything more yet."

"You said you planned to marry me less than 12 hours into our relationship and that's usually supposed to happen after the mutual declaration of love part, which is supposed to happen after the meeting the parents part. You clearly have everything out of order, Jenny, but you still didn't answer the question. Now, you get a one word answer: yes, no, or maybe. I wouldn't expect you to answer for me, so for yourself only: are you in love with me?" Sometimes Allie's direct manner was extremely nerve wracking.

I only get one word, I need to make sure I choose carefully, "....... yes...."

Allie was silent for a long time. I wondered if I had scared her off after all. Should I have said 'maybe?' I thought about that and decided no, I was going to start telling her the truth. I'd lied to her and to everyone else for so long, pretended to be nice, pretended to be what I thought people wanted me to be. But Allie is real-honest; maybe painfully direct at times - after all she just now cornered me into admitting that I was in love with her. But I was absolutely sure she had never said anything to me that she didn't absolutely believe to be true.

Finally she spoke. "I'm not sure I can say the same thing Jenny. I do like you a lot, and I like being your girlfriend. But I have no experience to judge what 'being in love' feels like. So my answer will have to be 'maybe'."

My heart sank, I hadn't realized I had been so hopeful for a 'yes' answer. But I shouldn't be disappointed, after only six days it was entirely unreasonable to think she would be in love with me. Yet my heart was entirely unreasonable in this matter; it didn't matter what my brain told me. I had a lot of years dealing with an asymmetric emotional connection from being with Molly, so I had a repertoire of coping tools that were honed to perfection. I went with my favorite: just give her time, she will fall in love with me soon.

I decided to change the subject. "OK, but how about Alex and Tammy? Do you want to call them with me? I'm really excited that they are starting another group. And you are an actual officer, whereas I'm not. So it would be more official if you're on the call."

"There's nothing in the bylaws that requires an officer to give permission to anyone who starts a new group."

"Yeah, but.. I'd just like you to be with me, when we call them. Please?" I worried that it sounded like I was pleading desperately, I sort of had the feeling I was. I'm not usually so needy.

"Sure. If you want. When do you want to do it?"

"I don't know when will be convenient for them. We should email them and ask, and send a Zoom link. Can we use your computer? I didn't bother bringing my laptop."

"OK, I'll turn it on. You could get us another Redd's, if you want one." She got up and walked toward a door that I had thought was a closet.

I grabbed us each another bottle of cider and joined her. I gasped when I saw her setup. There were three huge monitors that took up the entire wall of the tiny room, the computer itself was a towering thing, almost 3 feet high with all sorts of colorful lights inside of it. There really wasn't a desk, just a large chair that had some sort of built in bench with a keyboard, mouse, and some other things I didn't recognize. Allie was standing by the chair.

"It will finish booting in a minute," she gestured to the chair and took the bottle of cider I handed her.

But when it did finish booting, everything on the screen looked unfamiliar, nothing like any computer I'd ever used. So I asked, "Ah, what do I do?"

"Well this is a variation on Linux, with a kinda customized GUI. So click on that there," she pointed to an icon that looked like a dragon, "and that will open a browser. Then it should make sense from there."

I was doing that, then suddenly she stopped me.

"Oh, I forgot. I have a keystroke logger running. So if you log in to your email I will technically be stealing your login credentials. I should turn it off first."

"Allie, the last thing I'm worried about is you hacking my email. And even if I thought you were the sort of person to do that, I don't have anything worth stealing."

"OK, well I'll delete the log files after you finish anyway."

I sent Alex an email suggesting we have a Zoom call, and to send me a text with a time they wanted to do it. I didn't want to be checking my email all the time, so I gave her my phone number. I was pretty sure that Tammy already had it, but that had been months ago.

We spent the rest of the evening practicing. I felt like I was learning a lot from watching and listening to Allie and trying to find some notes that sounded good with whatever she was doing. She taught me a few standard licks and I started to throw one of them in every once in a while. Most of the time I did that she grimaced and I could tell it was completely the wrong thing, but every once in a while I'd get a smile from her. It seemed like she had an exquisite ear for sounds, and I thought it must be to compensate for her trouble with visual recognition.

We'd played for well over an hour when I was beginning to flag. My wrists were tired, my neck hurt, and I was losing focus. Trying to keep up with Allie, and think about which key she was in, what notes I should hit, anticipate the chord changes - it required a huge amount of concentration. But I didn't want to quit for the night, I was enjoying it too much.

"Allie, can we rest for a minute? I need to stretch my neck out." I set my dobro on the floor beside me and stiffly stood up. I rolled my head around, trying to work out the kinks and rubbed my wrists.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I didn't notice you were getting tired. Maybe we should quit for the night and I'll give you a massage again."

That sounded just as good to me as practicing for another hour. "You do that, and I'll probably eat you out again." I grinned at her; she grinned back even more.

We put our instruments away and were naked on her bed three minutes later.

While she worked over my neck and back I reflected on why I'd offered, volunteered to go down on her so much lately. I know what you're thinking, twice in six days hardly qualifies as a lot. But I never initiated sex, not with Molly nor with the very few other girls I'd had short term flings with on occasion. Maybe it was because Allie had been a virgin our first time, and I was a few years older than her? I didn't think that was it. I think it was because of how she made me feel, the small acts of consideration that showed me she cared, that she was thinking of me, the decisions that she made always took my interests into account. She made me feel noticed and validated, and that made me want to pleasure her however she wanted me to.

Allie was apparently wondering the same thing. She asked,"You say you're ace, Jenny. What exactly does that mean to you? Because you seem to want to have sex a lot. I don't know what normal is though, since you're the only girlfriend I've ever had."

"I guess normal is probably different for every couple. So, and I know it's really bad form to talk about one's old girlfriend when you're in bed naked with your new girlfriend, but that's really the only point of reference I have. I could tell you about Molly, if you really want to hear that, but it's probably better just to talk about what works for us."

Allie was silent for a few minutes. Finally she commented, "Last Saturday night, I really liked that. I could do that as often as you want. But I don't want to ask you to do something you don't like."

Shit! This was going the exact same way as with Molly. She hadn't liked asking very often either because she thought I hated it. I did whatever she wanted me to do, but I didn't want her doing anything to me. And that made her feel even worse. And then I was even less enthusiastic. The last year we were together had been horrible, but no matter what we tried we couldn't get it to work. I did what I always do, my solution to every relationship problem. At least it would postpone the inevitable.

"That feels great Allie," I moaned. "Your turn now. Do you want to try sitting on my face?"

"I'd love to!"

Allie lifted up off my butt enough for me to squirm over onto my back underneath her. Then she moved up so she was kneeling over my head. I loved this view, looking up at her flat firm stomach, her small breasts with hard pointy nipples, and her beautiful eyes looking down at me. I ran my hands up the backs of her legs and butt, excited at the feel of her muscles as she lowered her pussy onto my mouth.

She had trimmed her bush, it was no longer the unruly mess it had been last weekend. I wondered if she had done that for me, I'd have to ask sometime but right now my mouth was busy. I pushed my tongue through the hair and took a slow lick up the length of her slit. She gasped, I felt her tense. I dipped my tongue into her hole and slowly wiggled it, working her lips apart, stimulating the flow of juices. Soon she was moaning and pressing herself down on my face crushing my head into the mattress. I buried my tongue as deep into her as I good, working in and out, back and forth. I was having trouble breathing and knew I needed to finish her soon before I suffocated. I sucked her clit between my lips, she shrieked and pulled up and away from me. But I pulled my head up, back into her snatch and buried my tongue into her again, lapping up her juices. Soon I had her writhing, I could feel she was getting close. I slid two fingers into her pussy and fucked her, curling them forward to rub her g-spot. She tensed up, I flattened my tongue and pressed it hard against her clit. Her breathing stopped and all her muscles froze as her orgasm took her. Then letting out a gasping cry she collapsed next to me.

I said I never initiate sex, the exception to that being whenever I felt I had no choice. That happened a lot.

Her breath was coming in great gulps, "oh my god Jenny...... that was good....."

I held and snuggled with her as she recovered.

"Jenny, do you want me to do that to you now?" she asked when she caught her breath.

"No, you don't have to Allie." I was hoping that she would leave it at that and not make me explain.

She didn't.

"Jenny, this week I've been reading a lot about lesbian sex. Now that I'm a lesbian I thought I should find out what I'm supposed to do. I don't want to be just a pillow princess. And I don't exactly believe that just making you coffee is enough for you. So would you like it if I eat you out? Or what do you like?"

I decided to tell her the truth. "So this is going to sound weird, but I don't really like it. I get nervous and self conscious if someone is doing it to me, and then I can't cum. The only way I can cum is when I finger myself. But you could hold me while I do it."

"OK, let's try that then." Allie sat up against the headboard with some pillows behind her. "Here, sit on my lap."

I did, and leaned my head back on her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around me. I closed my eyes and spread my legs, slowly running the fingers of my right hand up and down along my cunt.

"You're beautiful, Jenny," Allie whispered in my ear. "You're so hot and sexy. Your breasts are perfect. And your hair smells divine. Can I touch your breasts?"

My arousal jumped ten notches when she said that. I grabbed her hand and put it on my breast. "Fuck Allie, I love when you say things like that to me! Yes, play with my nipples."

Allie kept whispering in my ear, telling me how pretty I am, how smart I am, bragging me up to myself, complimenting me. I was more turned on than I've ever been in my life. I shoved two fingers into my now soaking cunt and ground my hand against my mound.

"Are you getting close Jenny?" Allie whispered. "Slow down, Jenny, make it last. Don't rush. Let me taste your fingers, Perfect Girlfriend. I want to taste you."

I pulled my fingers out of my sopping snatch and gave them to her. This was the hottest thing I'd ever experienced!

"Fuck yourself with your other hand, Jenny. While I suck your fingers. Slowly Jenny."

This was mind blowing! Allie was talking me through me fucking myself, while she played with my breasts. Pinching and rolling my nipples, and telling me how sexy I am, that I am her Perfect Girlfriend. I switched hands again, gave Allie my left hand and fucked myself with my right. I went back and forth, switching my hands between Allie's mouth and my pussy.

Within minutes I was on the edge, I wanted to let myself cum, but she kept me on the edge. I didn't think I could hold it back much longer.

"Please Allie! Please let me cum, I'm so close."

"Look at me Jenny. Open your eyes and look at me. I want to watch your face when you cum. OK, now. Cum for me now Jenny!"

As soon as she said that it hit me. Every muscle in my body went rigid as the wave of pleasure crashed into me. Allie held me tighter and mashed her mouth onto mine, shoving her tongue as far into my mouth as she could, breathing up my scream. My vision was blurry and my head was pounding, nothing existed except Allie holding me tight, breathing my breath, giving me her breath. I went limp, Allie still holding me, I thought I might float away.

"Oh my god Allie, that was incredible. With you whispering all those things to me, it was so hot. I've never cum that hard before."

"You told me before that you like it better than sex, so I was hoping that would work for you."

"OH it did! That really worked for me."

----

The next morning I awoke as soon as I felt Allie start to stir, and get up. Before she could leave I pulled her close and kissed her.

"Good morning, Perfect Girlfriend," she whispered. "How about I get some coffee going, while you get the shower going. I'll meet you there in two minutes."

We both jumped out of bed and practically ran in our separate directions to get the morning started. Neither of us bothered to put any clothes on - what was the point?

A moment later she joined me under the hot water. She lathered up a cloth with a very nice rich soap that smelled of licorice and vanilla and gently ran it all over my body. She seemed content to just look at me and touch me, and I was content to let her.

"Jenny, you are really beautiful. You have a sexy body."

Objectively I knew that, people say it to me all the time. And usually it means nothing to me, being sexy is of no interest to me. But this time it made me happy to know that Allie liked my body, just because it was Allie. "I'm glad you think so, Perfect Girlfriend."

"Hey, are you stealing my line?"

Eventually the water ran cold and we were forced to go have coffee together instead - what a terrible hardship!

We pulled into her parents driveway right at 8:30. It was a typical looking house in a typical looking suburb. And her parents were typical looking. But they were really friendly.

"Hi mom!" Allie called out loudly as we walked through the door.

"Hi sweetheart. In the kitchen."

I followed Allie through to where two people, presumably her mom and dad, were assembling breakfast.

"This is Jenny," she announced simply.

"So nice to meet you, Allison has told us so much about you......." and all the other predictable things that parents say.

The talk was amicable, the food was standard breakfast fare, with the exception of an unusual selection of vegetarian options. Like Allie, I avoided the animal products. Everything went along just fine, until we were leaving the library, having just finished looking over Allie's collection of books. Allie's father took her off to talk about something or other, and Allie's mother cornered me.

"So, what Allison said about you being her girlfriend, is that true then?" her mom, who's name is Courtney, asked me bluntly.

I instantly got defensive, "Of course it's true, is that a problem?"

"No, of course not. I just wanted to know your understanding of the relationship, that's all."

"Why? Do you think she's lying? Allie never lies!" I was getting beyond defensive now, verging on hostile. I surprised myself with such an emotional reaction.

"No, she doesn't ever lie. But she does sometimes misunderstand other people's feelings, and misinterpret their intentions. I wouldn't want that to happen again to her. Of course I am going to protect my daughter, so I always make sure I talk to everyone involved. I want to know that everyone is on the same page."

Everyone - that would include Cindy and Kevin. If she is talking to me about this, then she certainly already asked them about me. And Kevin, that rat bastard, probably sold me out.

"I conclude then that Kevin has told you I don't like her," I said as directly as Allie herself would have done. "Well he is wrong. If there is anybody who is misunderstanding something, it is whoever claims that I don't love her. I am in love with Allie, and I specifically told her that in very clear words. And I am proud to be her girlfriend."

"I see. Very well then. Thank you Jenny, I appreciate your directness. Yes, Kevin is suspicious of your motives, and I'll admit I'm skeptical too. When Allie told me in March that you are her best friend, I was a little worried. It's not the first time she's thought someone is her best friend who didn't feel the same way. I don't want to see her get hurt again."

I felt that. Courtney had that exactly right. In March I would have said Allie is my arch-enemy. A mere two weeks ago I had said exactly that. My guilt must have shown on my face.

"So I keep a very close watch on my daughter's friends," she scrutinized me carefully.

"I appreciate that, Mrs Zembrovitch, that's totally understandable," I tried to reassure her. "Allie told me a little about that, about people taking advantage of her trusting nature. But I do love her, I would never want to see her get hurt either. I know I'm not perfect but I will do everything I can to make her happy. I promise you."

I'm not sure she totally believed me, but she let me go.

----

We spent most of the rest of the day with Allie showing me around Asheville. I got a text from Alex saying they would be available for a call any time in the evening, so we decided to call after dinner.

The call with Tammy and Alex was great, they were very enthusiastic and I could tell they were taking it seriously. The more I listened to Tammy, the more I began to think she might actually be serious competition for Allie. But I had faith in my girlfriend to kick anyone's ass. We ended the call with some non-committal promises to all get together sometime.

Allie wanted to go visit them next weekend.

"But they live clear up in Pittsburgh, that's like a (I wasn't too sure but I looked at the map in my head and did some quick math) 8 hour drive or something. We'd spend all weekend just driving up and back."

"They invited us though, and we promised to go. So we have to keep our promise."

"It doesn't have to be the very next weekend though. I'm sure they would appreciate some time to prepare for visitors." It reminded me of how she had come to visit me a mere three days after my vague offer to 'have dinner together sometime.' When Allie decided to do something, she just did it.

We had a great weekend together. For one thing it was the first whole weekend we had together as girlfriends. And we didn't have Kevin and Cindy to think about. I was sorry to have it come to an end. Allie had made space for me in her closet so I could leave a collection of clothes there. We both knew I'd be spending a lot of weekends with her.

The next weekend was just as great. As was the next one. But all the driving back and forth, missing out on Friday nights bar tending, the money we were spending going out - I was not getting my credit card bill paid off; I think I was losing ground. So Sunday afternoon I brought that up.

"Allie, can we talk about something?"

"Of course Jenny, you know you don't have to ask me that. We can talk about anything."

Trust Allie to take the question literally, "Well there's something, and maybe this is going too fast, but you know I have a lot of room in my house, and I was wondering if you would consider living with me?"

"I have already considered that, clearly that is the obvious next step for us. But I have no experience with relationships, to address your concern about whether it is moving too fast though."

"So, maybe when the lease on your apartment is up, will you move in with me?"

"How is the lease on my apartment relevant? It seems like it would better for me to move in now."

"Yes, I would like that. But then you'll be spending money on a place where you're not living."

She blinked at me and gave me that stare that say's I'm a damn fool. "It costs the same, whether I live here or not. And I want to live with you."

She was right of course, but I hadn't anticipated she would be so willing to move in with me already.

"So we should start packing." She got up and went into her small computer room and started unhooking wires.

"Right now?"

"It's going to take me a while to disassemble this. And if we leave in two hours we will be at your house before its gets dark. Can you pack my clothes? Just whatever you think I need for now. There's no way we can get everything in your car in one trip, but my lease goes until next February. So we can come back any time and get the rest"

Like I said, when Allie decides to do something, she just does it. So I guess she is moving in with me tonight. I wish I would have asked that question two weeks ago!

"Allie, what clothes do you want?" I dumped out my suitcase, I had plenty of stuff at home anyway, and I started looking through her side of the closet.

"You decide Jenny, you're a better judge of fashion than me. You always look so good. I will wear whatever you think looks good."

Allie really did have some truly horrendous looking clothes. I decided to interpret her instructions literally, she probably meant them that way anyhow. I found her suitcase and put it with mine on the bed. Then I packed up her nicest outfits, and made a big pile of the rest that would be donated to Goodwill. I was going to take her shopping when we got home. After all, she had agreed to let me make her my dress-up doll. This was going to be fun!

----

We did have fun moving Allie in with me. There was a small room in back that my grandma had used for sewing where we (she) set up her computer system. And we completely rearranged what had been a family room / living room into what we now called our conservatory. We built bookshelves everywhere we could sneak them in, made nice stands for her banjo and my dobro, and got rid of all the extraneous furniture that was never used and just took up space (most of that we gave to my mom and sister, since it was my grandma's). And we made some cute 3-legged stools that were easy to sit on while holding an instrument, so we didn't have to sit on the floor any more.

And I took her shopping. She let me buy any outfits I wanted for her. For herself, she would have been content with capri's and baggy t-shirts, but for me she was willing to put some effort into looking nice. And did she ever look nice! When she wore outfits that really complimented her, she was downright hot. She started getting lots of compliments from guys and girls both, and I was so proud being the one holding her hand.

Allie got me into her workout routine. It was some sort of combination between Yoga and Tai Chi that was concocted by Allie. I'm pretty sure it's sacrilegious on all sorts of levels to blend a Hindu religious practice with Chinese martial arts. But hey, what are Americans if not cultural appropriators? We did it outside any time the weather was nice. I have a huge back yard, one of the nice things about an older house. The best thing about working out with her, was watching her check me out; she was terrible at trying to hide it.

----

On weeknights I was working the closing shift at the Best Buy over the summer, so it was pretty late by the time I got home. I could see from the glow coming from Allie's computer room that she was still up. She always waited up for me, even though I always told her she didn't have to. I was secretly pleased that she did, although I felt guilty too because she is an 'early to bed early to rise' kind of girl. I stopped off at the kitchen and got her a glass of wine. She wouldn't let me do anything more for her tonight, she would just want to go to sleep, but she would have a glass of wine with me first.

"Hey gorgeous, still hard at work?" I handed her the glass of wine and glanced briefly at her monitors. Some sort of gibberish, she was probably debugging somebody's software again.

"Thank you, Perfect Girlfriend." She smile up at me. "Yeah, just this application for.... oh that's boring. Let's go upstairs."

As she was shutting her system down, she casually mentioned, "I paid off all your credit cards today. Well the three that I know about, anyway."

"What? Allie! Why would you do that?"

"So that we can go visit Tammy and Alex next weekend." She looked at me as though that should have been obvious. "They want us to come visit when they are at their cabin in West Virginia, remember?"

"Yes, but....." I still wasn't getting it.

"And when we talked about it, you said we couldn't go because you have too many credit card bills. So I paid them and now we can go." She was still looking at me like that should have been obvious.

---

Tammy and Alex were planning to spend a week there. Since I had only a collection of part-time jobs and Allie's job let her work whenever she felt like it, we decided to make a long weekend of it. They had a small bonfire going in the back yard when we arrived Thursday night.

"Allie! Jenny! Back here," Alex was waving at us. "Beer is in the cooler there, Yeungling straight from Pottsville. Tammy and I thought we'd all stay in tonight and catch up, so nobody needs to worry about driving."

"Brats and burgers are already cooked, inside the cabin. We can eat now if you're hungry, or whenever you want."

I was unabashedly watching Allie's cute butt as she bent over to grab us each a beer from the cooler. I noticed that Alex was too; clearly appreciating the new styles I was encouraging Allie to wear. And I also noticed that Tammy didn't seem too happy that her fiance was checking out my hot girlfriend. I wondered if Tammy felt a little insecure about her looks. Tammy had a fit, athletic body, but otherwise was rather plain looking. I might have to tone down Allie's outfits while we were here. I didn't want to cause any jealousy between the two women that I was hoping we were going to become friends with.

Allie sat in one of the Adirondack chairs near the fire, so I sat in her lap. Maybe it was a little catty of me, marking my territory. But I thought Tammy looked a little happier. I wasn't really worried about Alex, I think she just didn't realize how obvious she was being.

"So Tammy, how did you two meet?" I asked.

"We met in college, we both went to Penn State. But we didn't get together until about 2 years ago."

"Or 3, depending on when you start counting," Alex added with a laugh.

So Tammy told us their story, with Alex objecting at a few points where her behavior was portrayed in a less than honorable light.

It was getting dark, and the mosquitoes were coming out so we went into the cabin for supper. The cabin was simple but very nice, the ideal of a rustic mountain cabin.

"You two younguns can sleep up in the loft. There's only one real bedroom here, but there's a bed up there and plenty of space. Why don't you get your stuff and put it up there while Tammy and I get supper ready."

"Hey! We're not that much younger than you are," I retorted as we went to get our stuff.

It was a casual but fun dinner, and I was glad we didn't have to drive. We put a serious dent in the beer supply. But we were all a bit tired from the drive and were ready to turn in early.

"Well we're going to bed now, goodnight girls." Tammy stood and took Alex's hand. "And she get's really loud, you know, just warning you."

Alex was blushing as her fiance drug her along into their bedroom.

As advertised, soon there were quite loud and distinctive noises wafting up from their room. It was clearly having an effect on Allie.

"Hey gorgeous," I wrapped my arms around her neck and gave her a kiss. "You want to try making some noise of our own?"

"Seriously Jenny? What if they hear us? That would be so mortifying!"

"I'm quite sure they won't notice. And even if they do? It's not like they are trying to hide what they're doing. But suit yourself." I stripped off all my clothes and proceeded to put the clean sheets on the bed that were stacked there. I took my time, giving Allie a show.

She stared at me, gawking, until I got to spreading the comforter out. Then she quickly stripped and helped me straighten the comforter before crawling in behind me, spooning me. Her arms pulled me close into her.

"Jenny, I want you to take your hand, move it slowly down to your pussy. But don't touch yourself yet. You're very sexy, Perfect Girlfriend. Move your leg back, over my legs, spread your legs for me. Lightly stroke the inside of your thigh, not too close, don't touch your pussy yet. Now the other thigh, lightly. Are you getting wet yet Jenny?"

I could feel my arousal building, my breath was getting faster as I followed her instructions, whispered in my ear. I was getting ramped up but not there yet. "Almost. Play with my nipples Allie."

"Not yet, hot stuff. You're not ready yet. Now slowly circle your pussy with your fingers, just the outer lips. Don't rush it. Slowly. Are they getting fat and puffy Jenny? Tell me."

"Yes Allie, fuck yes. I'm wet now, I'm so wet. Can I fuck myself?"

"Yes you may, only one finger. Do you want me to taste you? Are you going to get your finger sticky with your pussy juice and let me suck it clean, Jenny?"

"YES!" I cried as I plunged my middle finger into myself. "Play with my tits Allie, I need to feel your hands on my tits," I begged.

A fraction of a second later I felt her hands on me. I was moaning and whimpering as Allie continued to whisper into my ear, building me up.

"Are you ready for two fingers now, Perfect Girlfriend? You can have two fingers if you let me taste you now."

I instantly swapped hands and shoved the middle two fingers of my left hand into my dripping cunt. My eyes were clenched shut and I just moved my right hand to the general direction of Allies mouth. Her hand left my breast for a moment while she grasped my wrist and guided my soaked finger into her mouth.

After a minute she had me switch hands again. I couldn't believe how incredibly hot this was, fucking myself while Allie whispered step by step instructions into my ear. With her holding me so close, she could feel each time I got near my climax and she made me slow down. I don't know how long she tortured me like this, until I was begging her to let me finish.

"Open your eyes Jenny. Look at me. I want to see your face, I want to watch you cum. OK, now. Cum for me now Jenny."

It hit me like an earthquake the instant she said that. I was crying, gasping, screaming, all at once, every muscle as tight as the 5th string on a banjo. Allie was grinning at me.

"I love watching you do that," she said simply.

When I could move again, I started to slide down between her legs. But she pulled me back up.

"Oh, no way! I'm not doing that with Tammy and Alex right downstairs. They might hear me."

"What? Allie! You just did that to me and didn't seem to care if they heard."

"You could have said no, Jenny," she smirked at me. "Good night, Perfect Girlfriend."

----

Friday we went to a small lake and rented some canoes. I didn't try to show off my canoeing skills this time. I let Allie take the back. The lake was pretty deserted, the weekend crowd hadn't showed up yet. So we had a nice relaxing day.

There was a swimming beach. I had bought Allie a really sexy magenta bikini that I was lusting to see her in, but noticing Tammy's reaction last night to Alex so obviously checking out my girlfriend, I had Allie wear her blue one piece instead. I got a chance to talk to Tammy alone while Alex and Allie were goofing off in the water. Allie doesn't usually goof off, so it was nice to see her relax and let down her guard some. I couldn't tell how Tammy was feeling about it, so I asked.

"They seem to be getting along great, don't they. Tammy? Are you OK? Last night you seemed uncomfortable about Allie.... and the way Alex was looking?"

She was quiet for a couple minutes, seemed like she was carefully choosing her words. "It's silly. I know that Alex loves me and logically I know I have nothing to worry about. Allie is really hot, you certainly know that. To tell the truth I was checking her out a little too. And Alex has a wandering eye, she does that a lot. It's not just Allie, she was seriously checking you out too."

She blushed. "But truthfully, I will confess to no small measure of jealousy while admitting it is unjustified. An underlying factor dates back to our earliest interactions, when we were at Penn State. At that time Alex had a really hot girlfriend; really hot but also beautiful in an elegant way. And you have no doubt noted that she is gregarious, likable, popular and very often the center of attention? During the subsequent two years, Alex didn't even know I existed, but I had an enormous crush on her. As is clearly evident, I myself am not much to look at. So I developed a habit of thinking that she would never be interested in me. Some years later, when my company hired her to work in my department, that seemed to be confirmed as she did not remember me at all. (well not really, at any rate)" Tammy added parenthetically.

"I had a hard time believing she wanted anything serious with me," Tammy continued. "However, my own attraction to her was undiminished. Ultimately, and with considerable pain and anguish, we did manage to overcome the obstacles, both real and imaginary, and I am entirely convinced that she is committed to me. Logically I am convinced. But of course that knowledgee resides in the prefrontal cortex, and the visual stimulii spend one and a half seconds moving through the rest of the brain before getting there."

"I thought it might be something like that." I paused a minute, thinking, working through her strange mode of speech. "It's actually my fault, Allie is totally oblivious to all that. She has this thing, it's called social-emotional agnosia, she's not sensitive to people's emotions and reactions. And she let's me buy all her clothes, so I kind of.... yeah, she is really hot and I kind of like to show her off, and she has no idea I'm such a lech. I know that's really shallow and selfish, but I'm actually kind of a terrible person."

Tammy merely looked at me curiously for a few minutes before asking, "terrible in what way?"

So I told her about how Allie always beat me at the game, my insidious plot to deport her to some remote island, my own jealousy about how much smarter and more trustworthy she is, my guilt about taking advantage of her trusting nature.

"Please don't let Allie find out any of that though, she would be so hurt. I've come to love her more than anything now, I couldn't bear it if she knew I had done all that. But you don't have to worry about her and Alex, I promise I'm going to hold onto her as tight as I can. And I'll make sure to pick out some things for her to wear that are less - distracting, shall we say?"

"The two of you only got together after the Championship?" Tammy seemed puzzled.

"Yeah, we only got together in early May, barely three months ago. Why?"

"I figured you were already a couple then. The way you were so attentive to whatever she was doing, and of course she was always checking you out. Which was no different than everyone else checking you out, except she was a lot more obvious about it. I had guessed you two were trying to keep it secret from her brother and sister-in-law."

"What? No!" I tried to protest. Tammy wasn't convinced.

-----

By early afternoon more and more people were showing up at the lake, and we were ready to call it quits.

There was a nice little bar and grill near the lake with an outdoor patio so we went there.

"So how did you two meet, what's your story?" Alex asked.

"At the contest," Allie answered.

"Yeah, the classic rivals to lovers trope." I added.

"No, Jenny, we agreed that it's the friends to lovers trope."

"No Allie, you hated me the first time you met me and I hated.... um losing." I caught myself just in time before revealing My Insidious Plot.

"I never hated you, I hated Molly. And it was just a game, that isn't important enough for us to qualify as rivals."

"Wait a minute, you two don't know if you were friends or rivals?" Alex was amused. "OK, then so how long were you friends slash rivals before you became lovers?"

"Three months," Allie answered.

"Or three years, depending on when you start counting." I added.

Alex looked at us as if we were lunatics. Tammy smirked at me quietly, knowingly.

"But the best part of the story is the night we became lovers." So then I told them how we had met Molly and her new girlfriend at the bar that night, and what Allie had done for me. And everyone agreed that regardless of what had come before, what we had now was real.

We chatted for a while longer and had some appetizers and beer. There were a couple local bands that we wanted to go listen to. Allie had found out about them when we were making plans to come up here and visit. Tammy and Alex hadn't heard any of them either, so we picked one at random and left to go find them.

The rest of the weekend was similar, we had a great time getting to know Tammy and Alex better. There were plenty of fun things to do, the local music was surprisingly good (at least I was surprised - Allie just said: it's West Virginia, what did you expect?)

---

Alex and Tammy had invited us to their wedding in early September. They were having it in upstate New York, near Tammy's family in the finger lakes region. They planned to have it at an old farm that had been converted into a wedding venue. From the pictures we could see on our phones it looked very charming.

We were driving home from their cabin and talking about whether to go. Allie insisted that we go. I wasn't too eager for it, there would be a lot of driving and Allie still hadn't bothered to get her license. We weren't exactly arguing about it, but I will say that we were both very stubbornly defending our opinions.

"Fine then! If you don't want to drive we will fly," she huffed.

"But that's a lot of money!" I objected.

"We have enough money. It will be fine." By 'we' I know that she meant 'she'.

So I stopped being difficult. I knew that her job with the magazine paid pretty good, and she also did a lot of freelance work helping software developers. If she said we could afford it, I knew she would be right. The only time she had been wrong was that time I asked the question about when the United States entered WWII. And she answered December 8, 1941; but that was the date the US declared war on Japan, who was not technically engaged in the European war. And the correct answer was December 11, when Germany and Italy declared war on the USA. I know, it's just a technicality, but that's why you really need good strategy as well as a good memory. Looking back on it now, she could have answered merely December 1941 because I hadn't asked for the specific day.

When Allie decides she is going to do something, she just does it. And I really did want to attend our friends' wedding. I thought about Allie paying off all my credit cards a few weeks ago so I would stop objecting to this trip. That girl is not going to give up, it made me glad that we are friends now, and not rivals anymore.

----

We had been home for a couple days when I got an email from Meri asking me to help with planning for this year's coming Championship. Like I said before, Justin doesn't actually help Meri much on the organizing committee. I was on a Zoom call with Meri one afternoon using Allie's computer, since she has such an amazing setup, talking about where to have the Championship this year. Needless to say, Justin hadn't bothered to join the meeting. We were considering a few options around the country: Myrtle Beach NC; Branson MO; and a hypothetical unspecified location on the West Coast. Most of the serious competitors were near the east coast, but we'd always done it somewhere along the Atlantic seaboard and we were trying to get past that. Allie came into the room behind me and set down a glass of iced tea for me.

"I made you some iced tea, Perfect Girlfriend," she gave me a kiss, and sat next to me.

Meri's eyes got huge and her jaw dropped. She stuttered for a second then got back to the subject, "So ah, um we have ah Kim and Eric that live close to Myrtle Beach who could check out places there. Do you know anyone in Branson? Who could check out places around there?"

I could feel myself blushing, but no way was I backing away from this. "Thanks beautiful," I very deliberately said to Allie before turning back to the camera. "If we had more time Allie and I could go check it out. We've been talking about going out to Branson anyway to see a concert, but seriously there are so many around here that we haven't bothered. It's barely four months from now though, we really need to decide this earlier in the year."

"Yeah tell me about it. Justin was supposed to have figured this shit out before July, fucking boys." She grumbled disparagingly. I really suspected Meri might be lesbian even though she had a boyfriend. She didn't have a very high opinion of men in general.

"Right. OK, I'll just call Kim and see if she has any suggestions." I concluded.

So I called Kim, she had a couple ideas, and took Eric over to check them out. Slightly over a week later we had our venue selected for the Championship - see, it's really not that hard.

---

We flew into the Syracuse airport for the wedding of Tammy and Alex. It looked like it would be a splendid weekend for it. It was a little early yet for fall colors, but the days were warm without being hot and the nights had just enough chill to enjoy a fire.

The wedding party were staying in accommodations at the venue, a converted farm. A block of rooms had been reserved at a hotel in town, but since Allie always insists on taking things to an extreme, we were staying at a ridiculously adorable B&B.

We had barely made it into our room before she started taking my clothes off.

"Perfect Girlfriend," she kissed me.

"I know you are worried about how expensive all of this will be," she held my mouth firmly against hers while she undid my pants.

"But don't worry," she lifted my top up over my arms and threw it somewhere.

She was kissing my neck, my breasts, whispering in my ear.... god I loved it when she whispered into my ear. Whatever reservations I had about coming up here for our friends' wedding evaporated at the touch of her tongue.

"Don't worry, Perfect Girlfriend," Allie clearly had my number. "We can do this for our friends, we will be here for them, we are fine, just let yourself enjoy the weekend."

I hadn't even realized that I was stressed out about the cost. I guess I'm just so used to worrying about money that I don't even notice it anymore. But Allie whispering in my ear, telling me all the things that always got me going, had me melting in her arms. She slid my pants off. Normally I would be nervous and anxious about someone undressing me, but I knew Allie wouldn't touch me until I asked her to. She let go and stepped back, then quickly stripped off her own clothes. She led me into the bedroom, leaving all our clothes in a pile on the floor.

After propping some pillows up she leaned back into them and held out her hands to me. "Come here, Perfect Girlfriend. Let me hold you and tell you how awesome you are. You're so sexy, and smart."

I was in her arms as fast as I could move. I leaned back into her, closing my eyes. Her arms wrapped around me, pulling me close to her.

"We're together now, beautiful. We will always be fine while we are together, there's nothing to worry about."

Allie held me tight, whispering in my ear, talking me through a glorious orgasm.

And then she let me eat her out, and I made sure she was well satisfied.

---

The wedding was what you'd expect, outdoors in a small pavilion, all the guests seated in folding chairs. It was quick and to the point.

The reception, on the other hand, was quite something else. Tammy and Alex loved a good party. It was a beautiful evening, clear sky full of stars. And it cooled off enough to be perfect for dancing without working up a sweat. But Allie proved to be complete rubbish at dancing. I was totally wrong to expect that being able to play music would translate into being a good dancer. Almost everyone else was complete rubbish too, so we had fun and laughed about it and didn't care.

I was glad we came. We were the only other obviously gay couple and Tammy and Alex clearly appreciated the moral support. Not that either of their families had a problem with them, or if they did they hid it well.

Next morning we found ourselves at a small diner having breakfast with much of their families. It was a place recommended by Tammy's parents, though they themselves had returned home. Alex and Tammy were conspicuously absent, which garnered plenty of good humored comments. We were seated at a table with Alex's parents and sister. And everyone wanted to know how we had met Tammy and Alex.

"There's this game we play called Know-It-All, and we hold the world championship competition for it every year on LDTS. So Tammy and Alex came to watch it last year," I explained. Which caused a dozen more questions.

"No, it's absolutely not like trivial pursuit. First of all it has to be real information, not trivia. And also the contestants themselves have to come up with the questions..... LDTS is Long Dark Teatime of the Soul..... no that would be a bad question because first of all everyone knows the Answer is 42 but also it's fiction..... Allie is the current World Champion, and before her, I was.... yeah actually Allie and I met there too.... anybody who wants to can join.... well real information would be like - you could ask the diameter of the earth, but you'd have to specify whether you're measuring it at the equator or between the poles..... no the extinction of the dinosaurs is a theory with a high degree of certainty, but there are other competing theories so you would have to qualify that question..... " and on and on for over an hour. Too bad I didn't think any of them were seriously interested though.

Allie sat quietly, amusedly, and let me endure the brunt of it all. That little smart alec, she needs a good spanking. Hmmm, that's a thought.

-----

Autumn was really busy. I was taking every substitute teaching day I could get, and working my three other part-time jobs too. We were practicing together every chance we got. And the Know-It-All competitions started getting more frequent. There were always a few games during the rest of the year, but in October and November is when people really started taking it seriously.

Jason was officially the organizer for our DG and usually did most of the judging, but I helped him out a lot. I played in a lot of the games too. I won't say I competed, because I often let the other person win. I wanted the games to be fun for everyone else, and to help them develop their skills. I did some coaching for the other contestants too, helping them think about strategy and deciding what subjects to study. It was pretty much understood that Allie would just wait until the finals in December and smear the other contenders. We didn't have to do that right away. So we had Allie do the judging, which she seemed to prefer over actually competing anyway.

It was late October, a game was going on and Allie was judging. I was just watching, drinking a Redd's and reflecting how odd it was for me to not be in the middle of all the action. I casually looked around the room, Molly was sitting in the corner doing her typical Molly thing: lurking in the corner and watching. Why the hell was Molly here? And she was all alone, the gorgeous blonde girlfriend was absent. She looked morose; she gets that way when she drinks alone.

I walked over and sat down, "Hey."

"Hey Jenny. Good game, you're not competing."

"No point," I waved my hand dismissively. "Allie will win again, and we want to give everyone else a chance. I'm superfluous. I've been teaching some workshops though, that's been fun."

"Yeah, looks like some of them are getting better, it must be working."

We sat quietly for a while.

"So no Heather tonight?" I tried.

"Heather?... Oh Heather. Yeah, no Heather. That didn't work."

"I'm sorry Molly, really. I do want you to be happy. I tried, I really tried, I just couldn't.... do.... be.... but I did try."

"I know Jenny, I know you did. And I know I wasn't what you needed either. I still haven't figured out what you want and I guess it doesn't matter now anymore. I hope Allie is it though." She paused, then got a lopsided grin, "so are you going to properly introduce me to the girl who kicked the ass of the three time World Champion?"

When the game was over, and Allie had finished all the formalities, I collected her and brought her over to Molly.

"Allie, I didn't properly introduce you to Molly last time. Molly, meet the current World Champion Know It All. I'll go grab us some more drinks." I knew I could trust Molly to make Allie feel at ease; and I guessed it would be less awkward with me gone for a bit.

Sure enough, when I returned 10 minutes later they were acting just like friends from way back. It turned out to be a pleasant evening after all.

----

One of the rules changes Allie had proposed was to have a pre-qualifying round the day before the actual championship for those contestants (almost all, in fact) who were arriving without having faced any competition before. That had been adopted. And since it would now be two days long, we thought we should include a few other things to do. So then Jack suggested that I teach a workshop for anyone interested, as the person holding the most World Championship wins.

It was a great idea, since I do love teaching. I don't have the sheer memory power that Allie does, but I have vastly better strategy. Winning really comes down to knowing what your opponent doesn't know, and being able to predict what your opponent is likely to ask so you can be prepared. It isn't any secret, but there are tricks you can use to identify your opponent's specialty.

I had spent a lot of time over the previous two months preparing for my workshop and had put a lot of effort into it. So I was pleased to have almost 20 people attend. I started with describing the rules; I had always been a little annoyed with how many people showed up at the Championship and wanted to argue with the judges because they had never read the rules. And I covered a little bit of etiquette; we want everyone to have fun so it's kind of rude to squash somebody straight away, especially if they are new to the game. There was some great discussion and excellent questions. Jack, who had been quietly listening in at the back of the room, was so pleased with the outcome that he wanted me to travel around the country doing the workshop.

"Sure Jack. As soon as you figure out funding for that let me know. I'd love to." I would love to, but I don't have the money for that.

----

With Allie's rule changes there would be only 5 contests on LDTS, 4 semi-final rounds and then the Championship. The nice thing is that now we could do those sequentially, we didn't have to do any of the final rounds simultaneously. So I would be able to watch both Allie and Tammy. Tammy had done amazing the day before, utterly demolishing everyone. I was a bit worried, and beginning to wish that I had helped Allie study for it. Alex had confided to me that Tammy had been studying for the last few months. Allie never studied for anything, she seemed to learn things just by walking past a book.

But Allie had been competing for a few years now, and had effectively won the previous two years, so I was confident she would pull it off again. Consequently, when Tammy won, I was pissed. FUCK! Why had I been overconfident? Tammy is brilliant, I already knew that. It had been pure hubris to not take the Tammy threat seriously.

I hugged Allie after, "You did great babe, I'm so sorry I didn't study with you. I won't let it happen again."

"Thanks Jenny, but why are you taking this so seriously? Tammy did great, it was fun." Allie didn't seem to care whether she won or lost.

I was smarting from Tammy's victory over Allie. She had won by only 1 point, and they had gone to 30. That was an unprecedented competition, but still. I was blaming myself, if I'd studied with Allie over the last couple months, instead of letting her waste all that time teaching me to play music, she probably world have won. And then after all the bragging I had done last night, I felt like a fool. I had severely underestimated Tammy. Allie had really done brilliantly, nobody else even came close. And Tammy had been even better. As much as I was pissed at myself, I had to admit that Tammy was good, really, really good.

Tammy and Allie were at the meeting for the rules committee, so I went to find Alex. She was in the hotel bar with a glass of water.

"Hey Alex, congratulations. Tammy was amazing."

"Thanks Jenny. So was Allie. God, aren't those two something else? We're pretty lucky!"

"That's for sure! No champagne? I thought maybe you would be celebrating,"

"I'm waiting for Tammy. I talked to the bar tender, she has one on ice right now. So as soon as they get out of the meeting we will celebrate. Are you and Allie going to join us?"

"Sure, we can stay for a bit. We're planning to drive home tonight, but the car is all packed and ready to go, we don't need to leave right away."

We chatted for a bit, Alex really is a personable, fun person to be around. After not a long while, Tammy and Allie joined us. Meri, Jack and a few others were with them. Alex poured out the champagne and we all toasted the new World Champion. Alex and Tammy kissed. So I hugged Allie and kissed her too.

"Hey, so are you two together now?" Justin asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah, we've been dating for several months now," I answered nonchalantly.

"Wow, that's so crazy, since last year you hated each other so much."

"We didn't hate each other," Allie looked at him blankly. "We've always been friends."

I cringed and glared at Justin, could that boy not keep his mouth shut?

"No, seriously, Jenny was like trying to get you exiled to Guam and shit."

'JUSTIN! Shut the FUCK up!" I screamed at him, losing it.

Jack collared him and drug him away to the bar, but the damage was done.

When I opened my eyes, Allie was staring intensely at me. "What is he talking about?"

"Allie, I'm sorry. I was kind of upset that you won last year, and I might have said some stuff, OK I did, but that was before I really got to know you, and I was just being stupid, and..."

"So you were lying to me? Kevin was right and you do hate me? This whole time I thought we were friends and you were lying to me?"

"Not the whole time... " I said in a tiny voice, and I felt even smaller.

She turned her back on me and started to stalk away, I tried to follow her.

"STOP. I don't want to talk to you." She left, I crawled back to the table where the others were.

I think people tried talking at me, I don't know. I was in abject misery waiting for Allie to come back. At some point I slunk off to the bar and ordered a shot of Petron.

And then another.

And then another.