Into The Blue

This is the first story I've worked on in a few years, and I'm very excited to share it here. This is the first of several planned chapters, but reader feedback—good or bad, as long as it's constructive—will play a large role in determining both how far the story goes and how often I post. It straddles a few categories, including lesbian, interracial, and a somewhat taboo relationship. If any of these bother you, you probably won't enjoy it. Please rate and/or comment; again, all constructive feedback is appreciated.

Thanks to barabajagal001 and bosombuddies for editing!

"So, you think I should introduce them?" Dakota asked her older brother.

"Yeah, D. I'm sure your new boyfriend—"

"Not my boyfriend."

"Like I said, I'm sure your boyfriend-in-waiting is ready to meet the girl who's kept you away from guys for the past year and won't at all be skeeved out or jealous."

"Micah! I'm serious."

"I am too, sis. I get it, and I'd still be a little weird about it if Ari had come complete with a girlfriend she already had plans with, totally exclusive of me."

"But part of that plan was that I'd meet a guy one day. It's something she knows I want, and he gets that monogamy won't work for me. I think."

"He gets that you're a sweet, gorgeous girl and you're into him. He's just trying to work around everything else to keep that intact. I can't say I blame the guy. Maybe he'll get over it, maybe he won't."

"Sooo..."

"So, introduce them, but don't expect them to be best friends and sit and help each other plan dates to take you on. I mean, Ry does kinda have seniority here."

"What the fuck am I, a sorority or some shit? She pledged first so we have to go with her awkward ass request?"

"One: I'm not quite sure that's how sororities work, D. Two: I could almost swear I heard a 'we' in there, and I get the feeling I was a part of it."

"Well, brother dear, they do both like you. It could help smooth things over a bit." She pouted up at him as she said it, knowing he was a sucker for her big green eyes.

"Fine, Erin."

"Ooooh, that's low, Mikey baby!" She rolled her eyes as she called her older brother his fiancé's favorite pet name for him, which he hated. Served him right, breaking out her first name like that.

"Brat!" He said, fake-angry at her audacity. She'd always known just the right buttons to push, but she never seemed to go too far. He figured enough time in the foster-care system would teach a kid, especially one with a mouth like Dakota's, just how much she could get away with. He appreciated the care she took, but he sometimes wished she would go too far, just so he could show her that he wasn't one of the ones who'd hurt her, any more than his parents—their parents—had been.

He took her in now, this vibrant young woman he'd watched grow from a tiny twelve year old girl with fiery curls bigger, it seemed, than all the rest of her combined, the smattering of freckles which she hated and everyone else seemed to love, and a heart shaped face that even then held the promise of beauty. That promise had been fulfilled and then some, and now, nearly a decade later, she was a vision. Although on paper she was less exotic than him, with his Korean mother and Jamaican father, between the features she'd inherited from her black mother—tip-tilted eyes exaggerated by sweeping cheekbones, a cute little button nose, and the full, pouty lips she tended to bite when she was nervous or concentrating—and the coloring she'd inherited from her stereotypically Irish father, she was unlike any other girl he'd seen before. As captivating as he found her catlike eyes and the waist-length curls she'd finally learned to tame, as a man—even a man who was supposed to view her as his bratty little sister—Micah couldn't look at her without taking in her almost cartoonish hourglass shape, made all the more outlandish because she was barely five feet tall.

Micah started, realizing he'd been staring at Dakota far too long and thinking things a big brother had no business thinking. He didn't understand it; it wasn't as though Ari didn't satisfy him sexually. She went above and beyond in the bedroom, always willing to fulfill his fantasies and bringing a few of her own to the table as well. Still, he shared a fairly small space with a very sexy young woman, and it was beginning to take its toll. He turned to leave the room, not wanting to dwell on desires better left unexplored.

Dakota stopped her brother from leaving, wondering if her teasing had been too much. She knew he was probably dreading the tension sure to fill her little get-together, and adding a reference to the fiancé she'd never been able to make friends with probably didn't help things for him. She'd noticed something odd about his look, though, and wondered if he was dealing with problems of his own. She pulled him down for a quick peck on the lips, hugging him tightly and whispering to him, "I'll behave, M. Just hang here with me for a while?"

He hated to leave her thinking she'd done something wrong, but the physical closeness, after the thoughts he'd been having, was too much. Besides, he was almost late for a dinner with Arianne and her parents. "You're good, kid, I promise. Gotta run, though. The thing with Ari's folks is tonight."

She gave him a sympathetic glance, knowing his fiancé's father made Micah nervous. "You'll be fine, bro," she said, kissing him again before straightening his shirt.

"I'd drag you along, if I didn't think the judge would count it as another strike against me." Micah knew Ari's father wanted Dakota, but he also knew that the judge resented Dakota for being prettier than his daughter almost as much, it seemed, as he resented Micah for having the nerve to propose to her.

"Aw, M. You know I'd love to come get under his skin a little for you. Meeting Ry in an hour or so, though. Where's tonight's little dinner party, anyway?"

"Oh no, brat. You aren't gate-crashing. You and Ryan go have lesbian funtimes," he waggled his brows as he said it, knowing it'd make Dakota blush in spite of herself. "Meet me at Ray's around midnight, and I'll tell you all about it."

"Can I—"

"Yeah, brat, Ryan can come." He picked up his keys from the pub table where they'd started their conversation, leaning down to accept his sister's offered kiss before he walked out.

"Have fun, Mikey baby!" Dakota called out, just before the front door slammed behind her departing brother.

-

A little over three hours later, Dakota lay squirming on her girlfriend's bed, moaning that "Baby, we have to go soon."

"It's only eleven, D. What'd Mike say?"

"He—ah—he said—fuck!"

"I'm almost sure that wasn't the invitation," Ryan teased, punctuating each syllable with a thrust of two of her long, slim fingers into Dakota's swollen, wet pussy.

"Bitch!" Dakota tried to scream it, but it ended up half sigh, half moan. Still, it earned her clit a slow, deep tonguing that was at odds with the frenzy of Ryan's fingers fucking her. She loved it.

"Pretty sure that wasn't it either," Ryan said, dipping her head for another taste of her girlfriend's pussy, letting Dakota guide her with a hand in Ryan's long, small dreadlocks.

"A—oh!—around midnight!" It came out a scream, as Ryan began licking in earnest just as she tried to answer.

Ryan added a third finger to her pussy and slid one into her ass, watching as the hand that wasn't forcing her face deeper into her girlfriend's cunt dropped from her nipples to the already tangled bed sheets.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Ooooh!" Dakota's screams tapered off to a slow moan as she tried to catch her breath. She screamed again as Ryan fingered her pussy and ass harder still, bringing on another, smaller orgasm.

"Okay," Ryan said, lapping up the juices flowing like honey from her girlfriend's well sated pussy, "I think I'm ready to go."

"Yeah, and I think I'm ready to go to sleep. Talk to Mike and let me know tomorrow?"

Ryan just grinned, pulling Dakota to her feet and guiding her to the shower that was right across from the bed in the cramped studio apartment. They climbed into the small space, kissing and touching as if the past few hours hadn't been spent releasing tensions from a week that'd been hectic for both of them.

After a bit of teasing and Dakota's quiet proclamation that she thought she'd live, the girls climbed out and dried each other before dressing. Ryan put on a lacy bra that hugged her plump tits like a second skin, followed by a tank top that emphasized her athletic shoulders and arms, and added denim shorts and ballet flats, accentuating the long legs she knew her girl loved so much. Dakota put on a pair of boy shorts from Ryan's drawer and gathered her scattered clothes, a half shirt and torn leggings. She threw her Chucks back on and gathered her hair into a high bun, then looked at the two of them in the full length mirror Ryan had hung over the bathroom door. Ryan was a full eight inches taller than Dakota, and between her confident bearing and a body that fell somewhere between lingerie model and volleyball player, she looked like an Amazon. Her smooth peanut butter brown skin and girl-next-door prettiness only added to the effect, seemingly softening what could be an overwhelming presence at times.

-

Ray's Diner was a twenty minute walk from Ryan's apartment and in an area nearly always filled with partying college students, but their last little interlude had almost made them late, so they took Ryan's silver Celica to keep from taking too long and worrying Micah. Even though they only halved the travel time, between pedestrians and parking, Ryan was relieved to not have to deal with drunk frat boys first coming on to, then lashing out at them. She was more relaxed than she'd been in days, and while she wouldn't have been opposed to an altercation before Dakota showed up that night, spending time with her always took the fight out of Ryan.

"Hey girls!" Shaina, the owner's wife and their favorite waitress, called out when she saw them. Micah looked up, then waved them over to his booth, where there were already two strawberry shakes and a basket of sweet potato fries waiting for them, in addition to his half eaten burger and chocolate mint shake.

Dakota just grinned as she sat down, while Ryan uttered a quick "Thanks!" as she slid in next to her and grabbed a handful of fries.

"So?" Asked Dakota, impatient, now that they were at the diner, to know how the dinner had gone.

"Well, the judge had to leave early to fly back to San Francisco, so I just took the ladies out for tapas."

"So I guess I shouldn't take the other half of your burger?" Ryan asked, batting her eyelashes exaggeratedly as she reached for her shake. Although having a vegetarian girlfriend had influenced her in some ways, no way was she giving up her mom's carnitas, her dad's rare T-bones, or Ray's incredibly juicy burgers.

Micah grinned and pushed his plate her way, his need for real food mostly satisfied. He wouldn't mention that he'd also finished a plate of fried mushrooms before the girls had arrived.

"So, so sad." Dakota said, harrumphing at her carnivorous brother and increasingly omnivorous girlfriend and crossing her arms. So what, her addiction to strawberry shakes and cheese fries were keeping her from going vegan. They were still ridiculous, she thought as she grabbed her brother's untouched pickle from his plate.

The two were still laughing at her theatrics when she spoke again. "So, wedding talk, I'm guessing? Please tell me I'm not gonna have to wear puke pink ruffles or anything."

"Well, no vomit couture, but Bridget thinks it's a good idea for you to fly up a few days early with me and get to know Ari's friends."

"Are they—never mind, what do you think?" She stopped herself from refusing on the grounds that the friends might be as spoiled as the fiancé, but she was

not

into the idea.

"I really think you should do it, D. I know you two don't have a lot in common, but I would like my favorite girls to get to know each other." He knew he was asking a lot, but thought it might save them all some stress down the road.

"Okay. Let them know I'll come. Can I bring—"

"Of course, assuming you can get away." He looked at Ryan as he said it.

She nodded and grasped Dakota's hand underneath the table, massaging away the tension brought on by the prospect. It wasn't that Ari was a bad girl or anything, and Dakota knew she really did care for Micah. She was just so damn self-centered, and it got under Dakota's skin and anyone else's who had to be around her for an extended period and wasn't in her immediate circle. Dakota sighed. She'd do it if Micah wanted her to. Besides, if Ryan could come, she'd at least survive with her sanity mostly intact. She smiled. Even though the wedding was still months away, she was glad, in a way, to have something to worry about other than her own current problems.

"Need anything?" Shaina asked, pulling the little group from the thoughts they'd all become lost in.

"I think we're good," Ryan responded, looking at the decimated remains of the food that had been on the table half an hour before. "Just hanging out before the club crowd gets here."

As she said it, a group of four obviously drunk guys sat down two booths away and started talking about the hot little redhead and the cute "homegirl" with her. They didn't see Micah scowl, but when Dakota reached over to touch him, hoping to diffuse his temper, which had always been quick when it came to her, one whistled and wished out loud that he was that lucky a bastard. Thinking it wise to leave before the rest of the drunks showed up to cause trouble, Ryan stood, pulling Dakota with her. Micah paid, then followed the girls out.

"I'm gonna crash with Ry. You good?" Dakota asked him, feeling like she needed some one-on-one time with her brother that wasn't dominated by her problems, but wanting to wake up to her girlfriend, which she didn't get to do very often.

"I'm good. Breakfast at home?"

"Sure. Some folks don't even feed a girl before kicking her out in the morning. Hmph!"

Ryan just rolled her eyes, amused, as always, by Dakota and Micah's byplay. They hugged him goodbye and took off, grateful, despite what either would admit out loud, that Micah had saved them some stress by walking them to their car. Ryan could handle herself, but it was nice to just avoid the BS completely sometimes.

-

At breakfast the next day, Micah had agreed to talk to his friend Trevor, Dakota's new prospective boyfriend, to help ease her nerves and suggested that she talk to Ryan about coming over for a meet-and-greet the following evening.

The guys had apparently had their talk not much later, because Trevor called Dakota as she was making her lunch and asked her to meet him for dinner that night. He'd seemed willing to finally meet Ryan, after avoiding it for nearly three of the six weeks they'd been going out. She figured she'd need to do a little more work on his nerves, in order to make sure there were no issues the next night when everyone got together. Besides that, she wanted to see him; they hadn't been able to sync their schedules in nearly a week, and she missed him. Trevor was more intense than anyone she'd ever been with, and although it got to be a bit much sometimes, his passion for life was exciting. His passion for her—well, it was stimulating in a different way altogether.

Dakota decided to shop a bit for her date that evening. Since she and Micah only lived about six blocks from her favorite shops downtown, she spent some time working on a website she was designing for a local band Ari had introduced her to the week before. Whatever else she thought about her brother's fiancé, Dakota had to admit the girl had connections.

Four o'clock found Dakota in her favorite lingerie store, looking at bras and wondering why all the cutest ones on the rack seemed to skip from 30D to 34D, with her size nowhere to be found. She didn't have the problem often, as her size wasn't the most common, but it seemed fitting to her that it would happen on a day when she had plans. After a long, fruitless search, aided by one ineffectual salesgirl and her more knowledgeable boss, she decided to go for something different from her usual satiny push-up and had more luck. In the end she chose two bras: a black mesh balconette she knew Trevor would love and a girly vintage one in peach, which she knew Ryan would prefer. Her search for matching panties—a thong for Trev, boy shorts for Ryan—was simpler, and she'd finished checking out before she got around to wandering why she felt the need to do for Ryan whenever she did anything for Trevor. Dakota's girlfriend was the one person in her mixed up world who didn't need any reassurance about her position.

"Babycakes! Love the hair." Dakota started at the half-shouted greeting from Angel Brooks, a makeup artist she'd befriended while working retail in college. His platinum blond hair and monochrome black attire spoke to the drama inherent in nearly everything he did.

"Oh my—Wow, Angel! How are you?" She grinned and hugged him, thinking it'd been too long since they talked.

"Baby, there isn't enough time or enough wine here for that discussion. Never mind me, how are you and Mr. Goodbar doing?"

"Really, Angel?"

"Really what? The man is chocolatey delicious."

Dakota couldn't do anything but laugh at her friend. She'd wondered, after she and Trev had run into Angel on a movie date, what he'd thought of Trevor, and she supposed this was her answer. As crazy as Angel was, she couldn't blame him for his comment; Trevor was fucking hot. She'd have to tell him about Angel's little nickname for him. As unnerved as he got at the thought of meeting Ryan, Trevor was perfectly cool with Angel. At least she knew it was a her thing and not a gay thing. She sighed, then caught herself.

No worries tonight, D.

"I'm headed to Dolcetti to look for a date dress, actually. You busy?"

"Birthday shopping for my sister. Since this is her third thirtieth birthday, I think it can wait."

"Cool. Froyo after? Me and Trev aren't meeting up 'til 8; I should have plenty of time."

After a quick evaluating glance at her hair and a longer, more speculative look at her face—Dakota didn't wear makeup, but he'd

love

to show the girl how gorgeous she really was—he replied, "Sure, honey. Let me do your face tonight, and I'll even buy."

Dakota's face brightened. It wasn't her thing, but she was trying to make tonight special for Trevor and hopefully keep his mind off of tomorrow. This could do it. "Sure."

"You little food whore! Is that all it would've taken all this time? An offer to buy?" He tittered. They'd eaten together before, and he'd proposed the same bargain before. She'd refused twice already—he'd really asked as more of a joke than anything this time. He so fucking loved his luck sometimes.

The two arrived at the boutique fairly quickly, chatting and giggling their way back to the dressing rooms, where Angel summoned a clerk, told Dakota to undress, and announced that "if it's cute, short, and a size—what, four?—I'll bring it to you." Dakota just nodded and did as she was told, a bit surprised that she was having so much fun.

Two dresses and a pair of fuck-me-pumps later, they left the amused salesgirl and picked up their yogurt. Between talk of Angel's new boyfriend, Dakota's fervent avoidance of her own romantic situation, and mutual excitement about work successes, the friends planned Dakota's look for the night: she'd wear the black lingerie she'd bought with Trevor in mind and top it with the short navy halter dress she'd gotten and her new stilettos. Her makeup, Angel proclaimed, would remain top-secret until she was ready to go. He speculated that if she distracted Trevor enough, he wouldn't have time to get nervous; although she'd been having the same thoughts herself, it gave Dakota a boost to hear someone else voice them. Maybe this would work after all.