The New Softballers

A devastating incident leads to two young women finding lesbian love, while two others cement their friendship. Part 3 of 5.

The story thus far: In Part 1, Carol Gibson, the daughter of Pat and Mike of "To Serve and Protect" fame, is enrolling in college when she meets a high school classmate who's playing on the college softball team. They're also organizing a late-summer intramural league to help the team's star pitcher, who's been bothered by a knee injury, rehabilitate. Carol agrees to come to tryouts, and actually meets the pitcher, a curt and abrasive woman trying to deal with pain on multiple levels. Later, the young woman who asked her to try out makes love with her older female lover, who enjoys the experience but wonders what the younger woman really gets out of it – and whether she is hot for Carol instead.

In Part 2, Carol goes to tryouts for the team and impresses the coaches with her fielding and baserunning abilities. While undressing after the workout, she accidentally meets Beth Wilson, the star pitcher. Beth is horrified when she recognizes Carol from a fake porno site that her husband and brother-in-law, who's one of the coaches, had accessed. Beth immediately tries to become nice to Carol, leading Carol to wonder if Beth might be hot for her. Later that night, two other players on the team, longtime lovers, play a sexual game with toys and elaborate courtesy.

My sincerest thanks to patricia51 and all who have previewed this story.

* * * * *

Two days later, the girls and young women from the tryout gathered around Coach T's office message board. Carol's eyes went wide as she realized she was the starting shortstop. She would be "in the hole" between Sarah and Tracy. Melissa was playing the outfield and designated hitter, and Ariel held down first base in a slight surprise for her.

Beth marched through the group like a four-star general. A lot of the ladies held their breaths as she scanned the roster. Would she join the team or not?

Beth turned and looked several people in the eye. She knew Sarah well. She knew Tracy to a degree but didn't hold her in much regard. She looked at Melissa and Ariel skeptically. She looked especially hard at Angela. Then she looked at Carol, who stood her ground.

Slowly, Beth nodded. She walked up to the board, took a pen and checked off her name with a bold slash. The moment she did so, Coach T opened the door. She gave Beth a gaze that said: "My way or the highway." Beth nodded again.

Coach T turned to the group. "Our first practice is at six tonight. Our first game is Friday at Brunswick State. Clear your schedules. We're going down there and driving back that night. If you need any additional help with your new positions, come and see me."

Carol felt like dancing, and she could tell Tracy and some of the other younger ladies did too. She settled for a high-five with Tracy and another one with Sarah, who smiled broadly.

Beth talked quietly with Coach T, at one point pointing toward Carol, who didn't notice her. Afterwards, she went into the coach's office and had some words with Coach Wilson. The discussion went along the lines of "Did you see her on that phony website?" Coach T came in and chatted with Coach Wilson as well.

"Jeez," Coach Wilson said when the women finished talking to him, "I'd better go out of my way to avoid seeming too friendly toward her. God only knows what she'll think of me."

Beth shook her head. "As far as I know, she doesn't have any hard feelings toward the people who read that E-mail. Not unless they bring it up."

Coach Wilson thought about his younger brother. "You mean Joey's wise-ass comments? You don't think he'd try to harass her, do you?"

Beth shook her head no. Then she got to the point. "Coach T, I know our personal lives aren't supposed to get messed up with the game, but Joey and I have been having problems. He was cool with me being turned on by women, that's not the problem, but we've fought so much over money and stuff that we're nearly ready to give it up. And then I was turned on by Carol when I saw her, and sooner or later she'll find out. I don't want the others hassling her because I've got a crush on her."

Coach T said evenly, "

You

hassle her and you're off scholarship."

Beth nodded.

Coach Wilson pondered. "How bad is it? I mean, how much does Carol or whomever turn you on?"

Coach T put it more bluntly. "And how likely is it that you'll have an affair with somebody while Joey's off in Arizona playing in the fall leagues?"

Beth looked like she wanted to bitch-slap them both, but she wasn't sure of the consequences. Her brother-in-law was a real friend, a guy who was always calm and even-tempered and polite to women, maybe to a fault. And she would have done almost anything for Coach, including making love to her on request. Coach T, however, never used her position to take advantage of her girls. Beth was grateful for a talk early in her college career, before she married, gently but firmly putting the kibosh on an affair between them.

Beth took a deep breath. "Yes, I might have an affair, but not while there's any hope of saving the marriage. No matter what else happens, I still love him. Making a pass at some girl who doesn't want it … I hope she beats the shit out of me before you get to me. But Joey and I have been talking about life on the road and whether we can stay together, and I honestly think we can't. I've told him about the girls I like and he's told me about the girls he likes, and so far neither of us has been jealous. Weird, huh?"

Roger said too quickly: "No opinion."

Beth smiled. "You are

such

a moral guy. Most in-laws would be threatening to bite my ass off chunk by chunk. We've

got

to work on getting you a girlfriend."

Roger said, "I can wait."

Coach T cleared her throat. "What's his is his, what's yours is yours, but right now you two belong to me. And I belong to the athletic boosters who come to watch you pitch. Anybody screws up, they cut off the donations and we turn into the damn WNBA, a bunch of Title Nine babies who interfere with football." She said the last word with an echo effect.

Roger nodded to Beth. "And you can kiss your major-college coaching dreams goodbye at the first hint of scandal, starting with the pitching-coach job here when I put on a badge. If you want a girlfriend, I won't cut you out, but if you hurt anybody …"

That was more of a threat than it sounds. Beth had almost proposed marriage to Roger rather than Joey, and still cared about both guys a lot. She was nearly sure Joey was ready to hang it up, and she was too. But she knew how much she'd miss him. If Roger got angry with her, it would be that much worse. If Coach T got mad … well, let's not talk about that possibility.

"Okay," Beth said. "No hissy fits, no making passes at the girls, be the good girl. Coach, are you still going to have me speak at booster-club dinners? I've got to keep my grades up."

Coach T half nodded. "You'll split the time. I also haven't decided who I want as the team's media rep yet. I may rotate it – Ariel's a good talker, Melissa, Angela of course if she can put up with you, and there's a good chance I'll use Sarah or Mary and Camille on their off days. Maybe the younger kids too if they don't get stage fright. I calculate one more season like last year and all the boosters will be happy – as long as there are no ‘incidents.'"

Beth's blood ran cold. Coach T was talking about something very different than what you might think. "I promise."

* * * * *

"You were a cheerleader?" Carol asked, almost as an echo.

"Is it that hard to believe?" Beth replied with a twinkle in her eye. She sat on the last seat of the bus, with Carol leaned around to speak to her. Sarah sat next to Beth, Tracy next to Carol, Melissa and Ariel across the aisle. Mary and Camille, who were scheduled to start that night, were a little farther forward with their game faces on. Angela was way up front; she and Beth didn't get along off the field.

"It was a small school. We were all athletes. So the school named about twenty cheerleaders and rotated us out. I cheered at football and volleyball, some other girls at boys' basketball, another group at girls' basketball. They had the Diamond Dolls at baseball and softball. It sucked being on the bottom of the pyramid, but hey … at least I could hold up any girl."

The younger women were in awe … and some caught an undercurrent that might or might not have been in the words. Carol finally asked something else.

"I told you I saw you pitch in a kids' league, didn't I?"

Beth smiled. "Before my folks moved, I lived near here. I was in Juniors, two years younger than the other girls. I had my growth spurt early and nobody minded having a ‘little girl' on the team. It was weird, though. I was still playing with dolls and they were talking about boys groping them and periods and stuff. EEEEWWWW."

Carol nearly broke up laughing. "That sounds like me. I say that when my mom nurses my baby brother. By the way, she and my dad have the night off from work and they're planning to drive over. I just hope she brings some bottles for him! My brother, that is," she finished too quickly.

Beth went grave. "Being a mom must be nice." Pause. "Have you ever heard the terms ‘ectopic pregnancy' or ‘tubal pregnancy'?"

The young ladies looked quizzically at one another. Carol said: "My sister's planning to go to medical school, she probably knows."

"That's what I had. I found out I was pregnant and we moved up the wedding date. But then the doctor told me the baby ..." she paused. "I just said ‘baby,' didn't I?"

Carol smiled reassuringly. "I grew up in a Catholic household and I've got a newborn brother. I know what you said."

Beth smiled sadly. "My doctor did an ultrasound on me and found out the baby hadn't made it to the womb. It – I can't tell you if it was a boy or a girl – was stuck in my Fallopian tubes. It was growing, but the tubes don't expand like the womb does. Sooner or later you have a rupture, and there's a real good chance you'll die. The doctor told me they'd have to go in and remove it, and told me there was a good chance any other babies would be tubal too. They asked if they could tie off my tubes. It took a long time, but I said yes."

"There wasn't any good choice, was there," Carol said, not knowing if she had uttered a question or a statement.

"Well, there was a choice, but that came later. Joey and I both blamed him for knocking me up. I had been worried about my pitching career going down the drain, and he had worried about what he would do as a father. But we fought about it from different angles. I got on him for not doing things for himself, and he blamed me for being selfish."

She paused. "We stopped arguing eventually, but for a whole year I was on the pill anyway and he used condoms. I knew he wouldn't sneak around on me, women just know these things. But after the car accident, sex was difficult for a long time because I hurt so much and was so mad. If you ever hear the phrase ‘a good fight and a good fuck,' I think it's bullshit. We went three months between lovemaking spells at one point because we just didn't want to do it. He surfed porn sites and jerked off. I tried to blame him but I couldn't. If we did fuck, he always did the best he could and that was one hell of a lot. It was so good … I don't know if I'd ever dream anybody else would be as good as he was. Not even a woman."

An awkward silence.

"There, I've said it," Beth said. "I've been attracted to girls since I was on that junior-league team, and I'm attracted to women, and I'd love to fuck all of you in the good way, but I can't cheat on Joey. And I won't, not unless we break up and that sounds like it's almost a sure thing. I'm scared for him, that once we break up he'll get in another bad relationship in Arizona or the minor leagues or maybe with the Devil Rays. I don't care about me, but … he'll always be special."

Sarah moved in and put her arm around Beth. Tracy moved in and put her arm around Beth. Carol took Beth's hand.

Beth was quiet for a minute. Then Carol changed the subject. "Is Joey coming?"

"Right behind home plate," Beth said. "Good thing I'm not starting tonight, or I'd never hear the last of him."

She was wrong.

* * * * *

For a team that had won its first game, the group limping back onto the bus several hours later felt like it had lost.

Much of the problem had been a seven-run first inning. Brunswick State had eaten Wheaties for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They had driven Camille from the mound after two outs. The two on base scored against Beth and Angela, who clearly had trouble getting their signs straight, and three more had scored in the second inning. If not for single runs in the tops of the first three innings for Butler (Carol outran a double and Tracy singled her home; Melissa split the outfielders for a triple and Ariel scored her with a sacrifice fly; and Beth herself hit a high drive which kept going and landed four feet beyond the fence), the mercy rule would ended the game in the middle innings.

Mary had been the hero of the comeback, hitting a grand slam home run after she was shifted to the outfield following Camille's departure. The score was 11 to 10, Butler leading, with the home team in its last at-bat. The first three batters reached on walks and errors, leading to a heated confrontation on the mound. The whole team gathered and got in between Beth and Angela.

But the team still won. The next batter hit a liner that Carol snagged in flight and alertly flipped to Tracy rushing on second base, followed by Ariel nailing the first-base runner in a sweet tag that just touched her on the fingertips.

They should have felt great, but they didn't. Angela was as far away from Beth as she could get and still be on the bus. Mary was in the middle trying to comfort Camille. The other "couples" were scattered, nobody having much to say to one another. Carol sat close to Beth, who had a truly bewildered look on her face.

Beth talked to herself, but loud enough for Carol to hear. "Don't understand … my arm felt fine … never had a game called like that …"

Carol said, "Sometimes the other team gets on a roll and nothing can stop them."

Beth sort of heard, sort of didn't hear. "What was wrong with Camille … damn fine woman … never gets into trouble …"

Carol revised her opinion about Beth talking to herself. She was talking to Joey, maybe, or someone else Carol couldn't see. She decided not to listen. It was unusually cold on the bus, she thought, but after all she had played a full game in the warm Georgia sunshine and had showered afterwards. She huddled up, leaned back and tried to rest.

It was about a half-hour later, and pretty dark, when Carol got too cold and decided to get up and move to another seat. She chose one across the aisle from Mary and Camille, who didn't see her.

A minute later, she realized why they didn't see her.

Mary was nuzzling Camille's neck with her lips while one hand wandered Camille's thighs. Camille had one of her own hands around Mary's back, almost at her buttocks, while her other hand tailed down near her own pussy.

Carol's face was a study in conflicting emotions. She had never seen people performing sexual acts in the flesh. On the other hand, she was no stranger to lesbianism. Her "aunt" Linda and her "cousin" Sue Adams had been a couple for about six months, and Sue had told Carol quite a bit about how she had become attracted to Linda. Furthermore, although Carol couldn't prove everything, she knew that both her parents had been Linda's lovers in the past – Mike before he met Patricia, Patricia about a year ago when she and Linda had first met. All that was in the past, but her respect for her parents, Linda and Sue had grown even more than she thought it could grow during the difficult summer.

Carol decided to get up and leave. But before she could, she saw Beth walking down the aisle. Beth froze in her tracks as she saw the lovers. Carol thought quickly and moved to the window seat, and patted the aisle seat. Beth sat down beside Carol and looked at the seat back. Her face was a study in emotions.

As quietly as possible, Beth said to Carol: "I've never seen something like that."

Carol, just as low: "Neither have I."

Beth: "What are they feeling for each other?"

Carol: "No idea."

The two young women then went silent, neither one daring to look at the couple nearby. Carol's initial reaction was to be grossed out, and she probably would have said "EEEEEWWWWWW," but she knew from discussion about how men and women did similar things together, and she sure as hell didn't want to shock the couple. Without looking at them, she looked at Beth instead.

Carol spoke very softly. "Have they ever done this in public before?"

Beth turned around and spoke just as softly. "I don't think they've ever done this at all. I have no idea why now …" Then she stared straight ahead.

How two women three feet away couldn't hear all this was a mystery to both Carol and Beth, but Mary and Camille were warming to the lovemaking. Camille had bunched up Mary's shirt and was massaging her hard nipples with both hands while kissing her chest just above the bra. Mary was caressing Camille's firm buttocks and had her other hand down between her own legs, which by now were parted. Camille removed one hand from Mary's breasts and put it on top of Mary's hand, wanting to feel what Mary felt.

Mary pulled Camille's mouth to her own and gave her a deep, heartfelt kiss. Camille pulled away, and then gave Mary a deep kiss of her own. Mary bade Camille to sit back on the seat, on Mary's hand. Camille did so, but moved her head down Mary's chest. With her other hand, she moved up Mary's back to unsnap her bra, then moved under her shirt to lift Mary's breasts up and out. She traced the shape of the right breast with her tongue, and then sucked on Mary's nipple. Mary slid down in the seat and parted her legs further. She brought her hand up from underneath Camille and slid it into the waistband of Camille's pants. Camille let her hand slip off Mary's, going to Mary's inner thigh.

Across the aisle, two faces were growing steadily redder. Carol was embarrassed by being party to this, and gladly would have left. But she looked at Beth and realized the older woman was aroused, embarrassed and frightened all at once.

"Curious," Carol mouthed to herself. She didn't realize she had said it until Beth turned and looked her right in the eye, took her hand and held it. Carol winced and Beth relaxed her grip.

"Sorry …" Beth mouthed, a look of desperation on her face. Then, very low, "Please don't go. I won't hurt you. I don't know what to do."

Carol thought rapidly. She knew counseling was a major part of a cop's job. She had had many heart-to-heart talks with her mom, dad, Linda and Sue. She said very quietly, "Don't hurt them. Don't look at them. Look at me. I'll try to help."

Beth released Carol's hand and instead gripped the armrests of the seat until her knuckles turned white. She said, just as quietly. "Don't look at them if it bothers you. You were right. I am very curious. I didn't know they were."

By this time, unseen by Carol or Beth, Mary and Camille had their hands inside each others' pants and panties, feeling the warmth and stickiness of the flowers. Mary's hand was guiding Camille's in exploring Mary's own pussy, while Mary explored Camille's pussy on her own. Camille still worked on licking and sucking Mary's nipples, and also had Mary's shirt bunched up to kiss her stomach. Mary raised her hips off the seat. Camille pulled down Mary's shorts past her knees and ran her other hand under Mary's bottom, exploring the perineum as she kissed down Mary's stomach. Mary took her own hand away and caressed Camille's face, guiding it.