Sisterhood – Initiation

Leah examined the square of card she held in her hand. It was a dappled brown color, and the words were printed in small serifed characters embossed into slight depressions in the paper.

Dear Leah,

The Seven Sisters are pleased to invite you

and a partner of your choice

to join us for the annual Summer Ball

June 17th from 20:00, Sisterhood Summer House

(Girls’ night: Women only)

The gates in front of her stood at least three meters tall, two rows of thin, pointed iron rails. Leah watched Caroline take one of the rails in her hand. The gates were held fast, but there was no obvious lock or handle, nor a button or bell.

“How do you think we get in?” Caroline turned to Leah.

“Don’t know,” Leah said, looking up, “But this is definitely the place.” She turned the card over. On the reverse was a miniature map showing how to reach the venue. Up here in the mountains it was easy to confuse one road with another, but the map was very clear, as was the wrought iron number 7 fixed high up on one of the stone pillars framing the gates. It had taken the two of them quite a while to drive here from their apartment down in the valley, with one or two wrong turns along the way.

Leah looked up from examining the card and saw at the foot of the gates a glossy tortoiseshell cat, its fur a patchwork of black and golden brown blotches. It was weaving itself smoothly in and out of the gaps in the rails, threading its body and tail through them while scratching itself against the metal bars. The cat stopped and slid out to brush itself against the hem of Leah’s dress. She stooped to stroke its back, and heard it purr in appreciation.

“Is eight thirty perhaps a little early?” wondered Caroline, “If it said ‘from eight’?”

“No idea,” shrugged Leah. She stood up, “I don’t really know that much about it. Anyway it must be later than that by now.”

“So what did she say when she invited you?” Caroline asked.

Leah looked down at the card again and thought back to the previous weekend. “Um, not that much, really.” Now that she thought about it, Leah realized she knew very little about the party she had been invited to, or about the girl who had invited her. Leah knew the girl’s name. Marianne. And Leah knew also that despite having only met Marianne the once, she was stupidly, desperately in lust with her. After years of having thought she was over all that, the girlish crushes of her younger days, Leah had suddenly and unexpectedly fallen for it again. Marianne had, over the course of one short evening, succeeded in bewitching Leah with the most aching desire her body had suffered for a very long time. Tall, slender but womanly, with pale skin and long, silky red hair, Marianne had flirted her way confidently past Leah’s nervousness and mistrust, all the while an immovable pout on her unbearably beautiful face.

“So she didn’t say to call her when you got here or something?” asked Caroline. She paused, “Um, hello?”

“Oh, sorry,” Leah looked up from the words she was staring at without reading them, “What was that?”

“You going all gooey again?” Caroline rolled her eyes, “She was pretty, but come on.”

“Sorry,” Leah apologized, “No, she didn’t say I should call. I don’t have her number.”

“Well, she did have a great ass,” Caroline continued, a sly grin creeping across her face.

Leah felt a warm shiver run through her body just remembering it. Leah had been able to get a good, discreet look a couple of times when Marianne had got up to talk to some other girls, and it was truly spectacular. Marianne’s waist was slim and narrow, but it widened out into broad, soft hips. Her buttocks were like two great soft pillows perched lazily atop her thighs, swaying and jostling inside her tight jeans.

Leah felt a silky tickle against the skin of her ankles. She looked down and saw the cat bound swiftly away, darting through the gates and running off along the stone pathway beyond. Leah followed its movements as it scampered, following the path that wound up a small grassy hill towards the house. “Wow,” said Leah, omitting to reply to Caroline’s remark, “The place is huge.”

“It’s big enough all right,” Caroline peered again through the railings.

The house was intimidatingly grand. It was set inside a vast, grassy garden. The lawn was dotted with clusters of tall fir trees neatly sculpted into bulging, pointed cones. A dense row of such trees also stood just behind the iron railings that enclosed the grounds, stretching off to the left and right of the gates. From the end of the path up the hill, a flight of broad, shallow stone steps led up to an imposing pair of studded wooden doors. More like a castle than a house, the building was composed of huge gray stone blocks. From the front, two side wings were visible, jutting out towards the gates. The central part of the building stood taller, and was wedged between the two wings. It was impossible to judge how far back the rest of the building went. In places the walls were covered in a carpet of ivy that crept up to the ramparts and round small squat turrets at the corners. Three storeys of high arched windows looked out onto the gardens, and through some of them Leah could see a faint, flickering light and perhaps just make out a few silhouetted figures.

She gazed up at the house, and watched as one panel of one of the wooden doors swung open, a door within a door. “Someone’s coming,” she turned to Caroline, “How do I look?”

Caroline stepped closer and took her hand to the side of Leah’s face, brushing her long, hair to one side, arranging its thick waves neatly over Leah’s bare shoulders. “Fine,” Caroline smiled at her, “You look stunning.”

“You really think so?” Leah asked. The nervousness had been slowly simmering inside her on the way over.

“Yes,” Caroline reassured her, “Come on. Relax.”

“Okay,” Leah sighed, “You ready?”

“Sure. And how am I looking?”

Leah took a look at Caroline. “You look great,” replied Leah earnestly. Caroline’s smooth skin was tanned golden brown from the summer sun, and her impish smile radiated self-assurance. Her bright, mirthful eyes and confident pout were a sharp contrast to the awkward smile Leah could feel on her own face.

It had been an easy decision for Leah to make, picking her cousin Caroline as her partner for the ball. Now that Caroline had moved in with her after they both finished college, it would also have felt a bit awkward to take someone else out to a big party and leave Caroline at home on her own. And of course, Caroline was a girl, as the admonition on the final line of the invitation stipulated clearly enough. In any case Leah had few male friends, and none she felt comfortable inviting to an occasion so grand as a ball. In addition, Caroline had only a month earlier split up with yet another boyfriend, and was once again in that phase of her curious cycle of sexual preferences in which she wanted to pick up girls, and preferably lots of them.

More than anything, Leah just liked having her cousin around. Caroline was attractive and friendly, and people were drawn to her. Leah somewhat envied her for her relaxed, carefree attitude to life, and to social life in particular, her ability to just dive into conversation and set people at ease. Caroline’s gregariousness had its uses. Leah hoped that with Caroline on her arm she might find it a little easier to mingle and to make new friends.

There was a vague family resemblance between them, but one that wasn’t immediately striking. Something about the mouth, the full lips and the way they fell into a brooding, disdainful pout when at rest. They had the same soft, lightly tanned skin and very slightly downy upper lip. Caroline’s features were a little more petite. She had a small nose, dimpled cheeks, and slightly narrowed brown eyes that hinted at a distant oriental ancestry. Leah’s face was more slender, with prominent cheekbones and a stern jaw. She had full lips that framed a toothy, slightly equine smile, the top two front teeth a little longer than the others. The two girls’ hair was of a similar mousy brown color, and thick. Leah wore hers long and at the edges of her face it twisted into tight curls. Caroline’s hair was uniformly silken and straight, and a little darker, and she wore it in a bob that reached just to her neck.

Their bodies, too, were somewhat alike. They were both built to be full-figured, with wide hips, broad backs, and big busts. Caroline in particular had grown rather fuller in form over the last few years. Being a bit taller than Leah, the weight had spread fairly pleasingly over her figure. But as they had gotten dressed together, Leah had felt a brief thrill of competitive satisfaction when she saw just how much chubbier Caroline had gotten. A full plump cushion of fat sat around her waist, her stomach beginning to crease into smooth rolls whenever she bent over, and her broad back was rippled with two firm, sloping curtains of flesh pulled down by the weight of her big breasts in front. Leah had made an effort to keep herself in shape since graduating from college. She had found a local stables where she could keep up her horse riding, and she also did a weekly swim. Her stomach was almost flat, at least when standing straight, with only the slightest rounding about her waist. Her breasts were large, almost as large as Caroline’s, but firmer, bouncing tightly as she walked. Her figure was curved and full, too, but her extra weight was carried mostly on her big, high-perched buttocks and her thick thighs.

Leah had decided it would be fun for them to dress alike for the party. She had taken Caroline shopping specially for the occasion, and after an afternoon of wrangling and wavering, they had settled on ankle-length, shoulder-strapped black dresses in a tight material that stretched to just faintly transparent where it was pulled most tautly over the curves of their bodies. They had decided in the end to go braless, after not liking the way that the outline of a bra showed through the fabric of the dresses. Leah had found that the dress itself held her bust more or less reasonably firmly in place, and was pleased to see a bit of cleavage showing where the neckline plunged down her chest. Up one side of the dress was a slit that led part way up the thigh, occasionally baring one leg as they walked. They were perched atop tall, black high-heeled shoes with slender straps that crisscrossed their way up the ankles. Each wrist jangled quietly with a collection of thin silver bracelets. They had a little black eyeliner about their eyes, but otherwise wore no make-up. And as a finishing touch, they even had on matching black string thongs.

Leah had had to make only few small compromises on the details. She didn’t like to wear earrings when there might be the prospect of dancing, as she found they tended to get caught in her long thick hair. But Caroline had wanted to wear her big, silver hoops. Leah had also opted to crop the soft brown hair between her legs into a neat narrow strip, which flanked the lips of her opening and extended a short way above. She had not quite been able to muster the boldness to ask Caroline to style hers the same way, and had noticed as they dressed that Caroline had simply trimmed it short and neat.

“I hope we’re not overdressed now,” grinned Caroline, “Are you sure this is going to be a fancy formal thing?”

“Yes, I think we’ll be fine. It’s a ball, after all,” Leah didn’t really know what the tone of the party would be. Marianne hadn’t said anything about it. Leah wasn’t even so sure what a ‘ball’ entailed. She had preferred to err on the side of formality. And she had also been determined to look her absolute best for the evening. Caroline, who usually preferred somewhat more casual wear, had taken a little persuading when it came to their slightly risque matching outfits. Aside from the prospect of meeting more attractive girls like Marianne, it had in part been the suggestion of dancing and of drinking that had helped sway Caroline. For her own part, although she felt she wouldn’t mind a drink, Leah secretly hoped there wouldn’t be any dancing. It always made her feel self-conscious.

“Oh, here we are,” Caroline’s gaze drifted over Leah’s shoulder.

Leah turned, to see a slender, quite young, dark-haired girl on the other side of the gates. The girl seemed to be wearing only a loose, slightly damp white t-shirt. As the girl leaned forward to pull on one of the gates, Leah was somewhat relieved to see that underneath the long hem of the t-shirt the girl was in fact also wearing a pair of wet navy blue swimming bottoms.

“Hi there,” the girl gave a hesitant smiling wave, then leaned back to heave the gate wide open.

“Oh, thanks,” Leah replied, for a moment not too sure what to say.

“Come, welcome,” the girl smiled again her half nervous smile.

“Hi,” Leah took Caroline by the hand and led her though the open gate, “Thanks for coming to get us.”

“Oh my pleasure,” replied the girl, “I’m Ellen by the way.”

“Hi, Leah,” Leah leaned forward, and Ellen, after a slight hesitation, met her to exchange light kisses on each cheek, “And this is my cousin, Caroline,” Leah gestured.

“Hi,” Caroline smiled, bending forward for her own two kisses.

“Sorry,” Ellen laughed, “I was in the pool. Lost track of time, forgot it was my turn on the gates already.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Leah replied with a smile. Ellen was glistening wet. Her long black hair was glossy with water, and hung in a heavy tangle across one shoulder, soaking into her t-shirt. Her plump, bouncy breasts were showing through a few scattered patches of wetness across her chest, and glistening drips of water trailed from her waist down her legs to her bare feet. She wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and there was something endearing, a little awkward or nerdish, about her. She was not strikingly beautiful, but still pretty. She had a slightly raised forehead, long-lashed, squinting eyes, soft pale skin and a cheerful, innocent smile.

“So,” Ellen turned and gestured up the stone path, “Let me take you into the house.”

“Thanks,” Leah followed, turning with a smile to Caroline. They followed in Ellen’s sprightly footsteps across the slabs towards the stone staircase that led up to the front door. Leah glanced over her shoulder and saw the gate moving slowly shut behind them.

“I hope I didn’t get you wet,” Ellen looked over her shoulder.

Leah could feel the cool of a little moisture on her cheeks where they had met Ellen’s, and perhaps a few little drops on her dress, but not enough to have wet her. “No, not at all.”

“So there’s a swimming pool?” Caroline asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Yes,” Ellen replied, “Of course. Did you bring your swimming costumes?”

“Oh. No,” Caroline replied.

Leah hadn’t even thought of it, “I hadn’t realized there would be a pool.”

“Well no matter, we can find you one I’m sure if you feel like a dip later on,” Ellen had a clear, refined accent, and a sweet, girlish voice. Leah watched her slender legs climb the steps, and caught flashes of her swimming costume from under the t-shirt.

“That would be nice,” said Caroline.

“So how did you come to be invited to the Summer Ball?” Ellen asked as they achieved the top of the steps.

“It was a girl called Marianne who invited us,” Leah replied.

“Do you know her?” Caroline added.

“Marianne? Yes of course,” Ellen skipped ahead to the doorway, while Leah and Caroline trotted after, teetering a little on their heels across the smooth stone patio. Ellen pulled at a black iron handle set into the middle of the small cut-out doorway, heaving it open. “Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t go in all wet,” Ellen paused, “Oh well,” she ushered them inside before her, indicating to Caroline to mind her head under the door frame.

“Wow,” gasped Caroline, “Very nice!”

They stepped over the sill of the doorway into a high-ceilinged entrance hall, dominated by a broad, curved flight of stone steps that branched off left and right to lead onto balconied hallways on the second floor. Tall, arched windows at the mezzanine of the steps looked out onto treetops in what was either the rear of the gardens or a courtyard in the center of the building. From the walls hung paintings depicting rural landscapes or ruined buildings, and tapestries with floral motifs.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Ellen stepped in behind them.

“Very nice,” Leah repeated, “So whose house is this?”

“Nobody’s in particular, I guess,” Ellen replied, shrugging, “Just the place where they all meet.”

Leah wanted to inquire further who they might be, but held back, not wanting to seem too curious.

“Um,” Ellen paused, glancing up the stairs, “I suppose I should go and get changed for the rest of my door duty.”

“Should we just go on through?” Caroline asked.

“Yes, don’t let us keep you from your duties,” Leah flustered, “I’m sure we can find our way through to the ball.” She wanted to be relaxed and accommodating, but she was actually a little unnerved at the prospect of their being left there in the lobby to find their own way to the party through such a huge building.

Ellen looked around. The place seemed empty, though Leah thought she could hear a faint, echoing chatter from afar, perhaps even the clink of glasses. “No, don’t worry. I can’t abandon you here, can I? Let me show you the way,” Ellen skipped off to the left around the edge of the main staircase towards the entrance to a corridor. “I’ll just have to go through in my swimming stuff,” she giggled.

“Is it very formal dress?” asked Leah, following, “We weren’t too sure what to wear.”

Ellen stopped at the archway of the corridor, and turned to look at them, “You look both just right, I would say,” she smiled. She led them through the archway and along a wide hallway. After the first few paces, windows appeared to their right, looking out onto a courtyard garden. The floor of the corridor was made of big, worn stone slabs. Ellen’s bare-soled footsteps made almost no sound as she walked, the faintest of little slaps, but Leah’s and Caroline’s high heels rang out with a dramatic, echoing clack.

“The place is pretty quiet,” Leah remarked, looking out of a passing window onto the courtyard, lush and green with the fronds of various plants and small trees.

“It was fairly hot earlier on, so a lot of the girls were outside in the gardens,” Ellen replied, gesturing ahead of her and to the left, presumably to indicate the approximate direction in which the gardens lay. Then she stopped still for a moment, so that Leah almost bumped into the back of her. “Of course,” Ellen turned, smiling, “The welcome address. It’s probably about now,” she looked about her, “Does either of you have the time?”

Leah looked instinctively at her wrist, even though she never wore a watch, “Er, no.”

“One moment,” Caroline rummaged in her handbag. She pulled out Leah’s phone, which Leah had given her for safekeeping before going out, “It’s just before nine o’clock.”

“They’ll all be in the Great Hall. Come,” Ellen turned and beckoned them after her, “Let me take you there.”

Ellen hurried on down the hallway, her pace quickening slightly. Caroline was able to keep up to her by lengthening her strides, but Leah on her somewhat shorter legs had occasionally to break into a trot, her heels click-clacking against the stone. Before long, the corridor opened out even wider, into another entrance-like area with a high vaulted stone ceiling. Here Leah saw the first signs of a party underway. A few groups of girls stood in clusters further down the hallway, some walking across it and through a very tall arched doorway. Leah was relieved to see that most seemed to be fairly elegantly dressed. A few girls were dressed inconspicuously in tight-fitting, casual but very smart outfits, but most were wearing long dresses more or less like Leah’s and Caroline’s, some a little fancier still, with lace or ribbons, or a few bejeweled threads hanging from the hem or sleeves. A very few were wearing more elaborate long gowns with open backs or plunging necklines.

Ellen steered them immediately to the left along a second smaller, lower corridor like the one by which they had entered. This one was darker, without windows, but short. It ended at a blank wall. Ellen turned to the right and Leah saw a pair of stout wooden doors. Ellen swung the doors open, ushering them through. They stepped in, Caroline first, then Leah.

“Oh wow!” Caroline enthused, turning to look at Leah. The space on the other side was out of all proportion to the size of the entrance. They had entered at the side of what was surely the main space of the building, a big, church-like vault flanked by two rows of pillars. The floor was polished wood, and the ceiling, high up above them, was composed of several crossed stone arches. At the nearer end of the room to their right was a much grander entrance, the arched open door that they had seen a moment earlier from the outside. Here, several small groups of girls were just entering. In the middle of the hall, the floor of the room was already quite closely packed. Lone girls or small groups were leaning against pillars, chatting, some of them sipping from cocktail glasses. In the opposite wall, a small door like the one through which they had just entered was disgorging yet more groups of girls from another corridor. At the furthest end, to their left, the shape of the hall was rounded, like the apse of a cathedral, and a grand crescent of high windows poured the light of the sun down onto the floor.

Leah turned to Ellen, who stepped in behind her, carefully closing the door, “Nice, isn’t it?” she raised her hand with a proud smile to gesture up at the far off ceiling.

“Lovely,” Caroline replied.

“Though I’m a little underdressed for the ballroom,” Ellen giggled.

“This is really nice,” agreed Leah. Looking around, what struck her after she had paused to take in the vast grandeur of the hall and the various elegant dresses on display, was how good-looking so many of the girls were. She looked down at where her own tight dress clung to her body, and was suddenly, awkwardly self-conscious. She felt the weight of her big backside swing heavily behind her as she stepped into the room.

“You alright?” Caroline turned from gazing up at the ceiling to look at Leah.

“Oh yes, fine,” Leah replied quickly, “Just admiring.” She took Caroline’s hand and followed as Ellen led them forward towards the center of the room, where the groups of girls seemed to be slowly coming together, huddled a little more densely. Ellen brought them to a stop in a convenient space close to the edge of the gathering crowd. There seemed to be a slight hush as a few groups stopped chattering or lowered their voices, and Leah felt a momentary nervous flush, worried that their entrance had somehow drawn the crowd’s attention. But then a movement caught her eye from across towards the far end of the hall, where she had not yet noticed a broad wooden dais, set between two of the huge pillars that flanked the hall. One by one, the girls standing around them gradually stopped talking to one another and turned their heads towards the dais.

“It’s about to start,” Ellen whispered, stepping between Leah and Caroline and placing her hands on their shoulders.

“The welcome address?” whispered Leah back.

Ellen nodded. Peering between the bodies and over the heads and shoulders in front of her, Leah watched a tall figure climb the stairs at the edge of the dais and stride confidently out onto the middle of the stage. Leah recognized right away the long silky red hair, the fair skin and slender but curvy figure of Marianne. She was not dressed quite as formally as many of the other girls present. She wore plain, tight black leggings and flat shoes, and over the leggings to just above her knees fell a neat, oriental-style, dark green dress with short sleeves and a collar, and a floral pattern embroidered into the shiny fabric.

Marianne turned to face her audience, flashing the same cool smile she had worn the evening Leah had first met her. Marianne’s hair fell for a moment in front of her face and she tossed it casually over her shoulder with a shake of her head. Leah felt her heart pulse a little harder.

“Um,” Leah felt Ellen’s small hand grip her arm just as Marianne’s mouth opened to speak, “I’m afraid I really should go and get changed,” Ellen whispered.

“Okay,” Leah whispered back, not taking her eyes off Marianne.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, and I’ll come find you here,” Ellen continued, “Please enjoy the first dance if I’m not back by then, and get yourselves a drink from the bar.”

“Dance?” Caroline whispered, not managing to keep her voice quite as low as Ellen’s.

“Okay,” Leah replied, finally tearing her gaze away from the stage, “Please, take your time. Don’t worry about us. We don’t want to take you away from your friends. We’ll get a drink and take a look around.”

“No, it’s my pleasure to look after you. You’re our guests,” Ellen turned to walk away, “I’ll be around,” she waved as she made her way through the sparse crowd of girls that had now gathered behind them.

Before turning back to face the stage, Leah’s eyes met Caroline’s. Caroline flashed her a mischievous, friendly grin and took her hand, “Isn’t this exciting?”

Leah smiled and nodded, squeezing Caroline’s hand, and turned her attention back to what Marianne was saying. The sun, low in the sky, beamed across from the high windows behind them to shine directly down onto the dais, illuminating Marianne’s pale white skin and the lush color of her dress.

Leah stared, savoring Marianne’s voice as it sounded out, loud but calm across the now hushed, crowded hall. Her manner of speech was clean, clipped, each consonant sounded briskly but clearly, the vowels ringing out like the pure notes of a piano. Though high-pitched, Marianne’s voice seemed to resonate all around as if amplified. Leah looked about but saw no speakers or microphone, and surmised that the effect was simply the result of the acoustics of the hall, the curved arches of the ceiling and of various alcoves at the edges of the main space providing an echo that was robust enough to lend a certain volume and drama to Marianne’s words without drowning them in reverberation.

Mesmerized, Leah caught up to herself and realized she wasn’t really paying attention to what Marianne was saying. “… and so,” Leah heard, “welcome Sisters, and friends, and guests, to this, our eighth Summer Ball,” Marianne opened her arms and held them out towards the crowd in front of her in a symbolic embrace, “Please make yourselves at home, enjoy yourselves, indulge yourselves, and, of course, indulge one another,” the sly, cool smile on her face widened just a little. Marianne seemed entirely at ease, confident, even happy to be standing speaking in front of what had become a very large crowd.

“There are so many people here,” Leah whispered to Caroline. Leah would herself never dare to stand up and speak to such a large number. On the few occasions she had had to do so, to deliver a short speech or help organize an event, her cheeks had flushed hot red almost immediately, and her throat had locked up, throttling her voice to an embarrassing croak.

Caroline held up her finger with a smile, “No. So many girls,” she grinned, “And so many really hot girls.”

It hadn’t escaped Leah’s attention. All around them were crowds of very elegantly dressed young women. They were of all colors and shapes, most light-skinned, but some dark, blondes and brunettes, some tall and slender, others curvy. Although perhaps not all of them were particularly Leah’s preferred type, there wasn’t one of them that Leah did not find at least a little bit attractive.

“For those of you who are here on business,” Marianne went on, “the Sisterhood convenes before dawn as usual. And for those of you here on pleasure, enjoy. Please do take advantage of the bar. Drinks are on us. The gardens are open,” she gestured across towards the large main entrance where some girls were still drifting into the hall, “And so, of course, I now invite you to take your partners and join in the inaugural dance,” Marianne spoke slowly, smiling, as if to ease her audience gently out of her spell and back into the real world. At least that is how it seemed to Leah. She slowly came to her senses as she watched Marianne stride gracefully across the stage and back down the short flight of wooden steps.

“Hello there?” Leah heard Caroline’s voice and felt her squeeze her hand.

“Oh, hi,” Leah turned to face Caroline, blushing.

Caroline held her hand up to her lips, “Are you drooling?”

“What?” Leah gasped, reaching for her face. Then she saw the mischievous laugh break out across Caroline’s face.

“So,” Caroline looked about her, “What should we do now?”

“Um,” Leah looked around. The chatter that had slowly begun to fill the hall before Marianne had begun speaking had returned, and was quickly getting louder. It also sounded slightly different, laced with a new hint of excitement, the occasional giggle or cry of delight. Some parts of the hall had gotten very crowded, but Leah noticed that the area where they were standing, a wide, rough rectangle stretching from the front of the stage to the row of pillars behind them, was starting to thin out, as some girls were moving briskly away towards either far end of the hall, while a few others in smaller groups of two or three were taking their place, spacing themselves out neatly in intimate clusters.

“Mademoiselle,” Caroline took one step closer to Leah so that their bodies came together, face to face. She put one arm about Leah’s waist, grinning, “May I perhaps have the pleasure of the first dance?”

“Oh,” said Leah, “I suppose we should dance, shouldn’t we?”

“Just the first dance,” said Caroline, taking hold of Leah’s body and clasping it tightly to her in a formal hold, “Then I promise I’ll take you for a drink and you can bore me to death about how you have the hots for the lovely Marianne.”

“Okay,” Leah blushed again. It was true of course, and Caroline had seen it clearly. What Leah wanted most of all at that moment was to rush over and catch Marianne as she left the stage, whisk her off to some quiet spot, declare her desire and, hopefully, be whisked off her feet in turn. But of course there was no way she would have the courage to do something so bold. Leah stole a glance over her shoulder to see whether she could see where Marianne had headed to, but there was a sudden fanfare of music, and Caroline twisted her gently around into the first few steps of the dance.

“You alright?” Caroline asked, holding Leah tightly.

“Yes, fine,” Leah smiled, “I’ll just follow your lead.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Caroline smiled and laughed, striding out into the middle of the dancing area, darting between two other pairs of girls. She increased the pace of her steps a little, pulling firmly on Leah’s arm and waist to carry her along. Leah staggered awkwardly at first, nearly stumbling. but Caroline was strong and capable, and after a few false starts Leah was able to just let herself be led.

Leah tried hard to relax and enjoy the dance, but her mind and her heart were racing with nervousness. She hoped that Caroline could not feel her body trembling. While listening to Marianne speak, Leah had felt suddenly, powerfully aroused, in a way that she hadn’t been able to control. That warm, confident voice had seemed to soak into her, and she had felt her pussy begin to throb with heat. Now, pressed up against her cousin’s tall, broad body, both of them braless and thinly clad in their tight dresses, the slowly fading throbs of her desire felt very awkward, incongruous. Leah tried to think of something else, blot Marianne’s rapturously beautiful face from her mind’s eye, but as she did so the awkwardness of feeling so turned on while holding on to her cousin’s body gave way to her usual shy self-consciousness, and Leah wished only for the dance to be over quickly. The girls dancing around them were for the most part very tall and slim, very beautiful, and seemed to move effortlessly together, gliding easily into each new space that opened in front of them. Leah on the other hand, as she trotted and staggered, could physically feel her big, heavy backside swing and shake as Caroline yanked her this way and that. Her breasts at least were for the most part pressed up tight against Caroline’s, and it was only in occasional moments at which they stepped away from each other that Leah felt them bounce uncontrollably, her free arm instinctively reaching to hold them in place.

Suddenly, a loud, shrill voice called out from somewhere in the middle of the dancing throng, “Aaand… change!” The couples dancing around them each spun apart, more or less in unison, though one or two seemed to have been caught off guard. The girls let go of their partners, some with a graceful fling from their arms, others just stepping apart, and the floor was quickly awash with wandering, single dancers, a lively, bustling confusion.

Leah looked up at Caroline, worried, “So we have to change partners or what?”

“I guess so,” Caroline grinned, giving Leah a sudden tight hug. Then with a gleeful smile Caroline pushed Leah gently away, arms outstretched, giggling, “So long, partner!”

“Whoa!” Leah teetered and lurched across the empty space in front of her, then fell straight into a waiting embrace. The arms that took hold of her, though slender, tensed strong and rigid, steadying her until she could pull herself up straight.

“Well hello there,” Leah looked up to see Marianne’s beautiful face looking down at her.

“Oh hi!” Leah was so taken by surprise that to her great chagrin she almost shrieked out her greeting.

“This is a nice surprise,” Marianne’s cool, enigmatic expression flickered with the faintest of sly grins, blue-green eyes twinkling.

“Likewise,” Leah flustered.

“So, shall we?” Marianne didn’t wait for a reply, but clasped Leah’s body tightly to her own, pulling her away in a smooth sweep across the floor. Leah turned and watched Caroline take hold of another girl nearby and stride off in a quick waltz.

Leah felt able to speak only after a minute or so, having taken time to fall in with Marianne’s leading rhythm, “Thanks for inviting us,” she said.

“My pleasure,” smiled Marianne, “I’m glad you came. Do you like it here?”

“It’s really, really nice,” Leah enthused, smiling. Marianne looked just as lovely as Leah remembered, or even more so. Marianne’s luscious red hair hung in a smooth, silken wave down one side of her face, and after every few steps of the dance she gave a brisk, ponylike toss of her head to sweep it aside. On her high heels, Leah was nearly as tall as Marianne was in her flat shoes, and they danced more or less face to face, Leah able to feel the lightest brush of Marianne’s cheek against hers, and the ticklish caress of Marianne’s hair on her neck. As her surprise and her nervousness began to ebb away, Leah felt inside her the same swelling, urgent desire she had felt the last time she had met Marianne.

“Am I holding you too tightly?” Marianne asked.

“What?” Leah realized she was staring into Marianne’s eyes, her mouth gawping open, “Oh, no! No, it’s fine.”

“So,” Marianne smiled, “It’s very lovely to have you here, and your cousin. What was her name again?”

“Caroline,” Leah replied. She hoped that Marianne wasn’t too interested in Caroline.

“Caroline. Lovely,” Marianne continued, “I very much look forward to spending some time with you both later on. But, unfortunately, for now I have to attend to my duties as hostess for a little while. Meeting and greeting, tedious stuff.”

“Are you in charge of the ball?” Leah asked.

“Sort of, yes. Me and some other girls,” Marianne rolled her eyes, “Such a chore.”

“Well, you’re doing a great job. It looks like it’s going really well,” said Leah.

“Thank you. It means a lot to me that our guests enjoy themselves here.”

“I’m certainly enjoying myself,” Leah laughed nervously.

Marianne paused to look Leah in the eye, “So am I,” she said, “And now, much as I would very much love to spend the rest of the evening dancing with you, I must go.”

“Oh,” Leah heard the disappointment in her own voice.

“May I kiss you?” Marianne said quietly.

Leah didn’t know what to say, suddenly taken aback, “Um, of course,” she managed, after a brief silence.

Marianne stopped dancing, held Leah tight, and the two of them stood still while Marianne, to Leah’s great surprise, planted a soft kiss on her lips. Marianne’s mouth opened, Leah opened hers in response, and for a brief moment she felt the warm, smooth caress of Marianne’s tongue.

“So, I must tear myself away,” said Marianne with a sigh, pulling away from their embrace. It seemed to Leah as though there was a tinge of genuine regret in her voice.

“Oh, um, okay,” Leah stammered. Her whole body pulsed with an agonizing, hot desire, her pussy throbbing hard against the tight string of her thong.

“Perhaps I can leave you in the hands of someone who may take care of you?” Marianne took Leah’s arm.

“Sure,” Leah replied, “That would be nice.”

“If you promise me I can have you back later,” Marianne’s inscrutable, pouting mouth curled into the slightest of smiles.

“Yes, I promise,” blurted Leah, more eagerly than she had wanted.

“Then please,” Marianne pulled gently on Leah’s arm to turn her around, and Leah pivoted on her heels to come face to face with another girl, “This is Lena,” Marianne spoke into Leah’s ear from behind her.

“Hi,” said Leah, still somewhat flustered. She leaned forward for a greeting kiss.

“Lena, this is Leah, a very special guest. Please see that she and her friend have a good time at our ball this evening,” Marianne squeezed Leah’s shoulders. Then she turned and strode away.

Leah looked over her shoulder to see Marianne’s big, soft buttocks bounce and sway beneath her dress as she made her way through the dancers and the minglers towards the far end of the hall.

Leah looked back at Lena, who held out her hands. She was very slim, and strikingly beautiful, the sort of elegant, angular beauty that put Leah in mind of a classical sculpture. Her white skin was very lightly tanned, and rosy red at her cheekbones. Her petite nose had the faintest hint of a cleft at its tip, and her eyes were clear blue. She wore her light blonde-brown hair tied up in a tight ponytail behind her head, baring her long neck. She wore smart, tight blue denim jeans and flat shoes, and an equally tight, soft-looking blue and white striped long-sleeved top. “Shall we dance?” Lena’s voice was surprisingly deep and womanly for such a slim girl.

“That would be lovely,” Leah replied, reaching out awkwardly to take hold of Lena’s waist. Lena pulled her close and pressed their bodies tightly together, with the same firm but gentle strength that Leah had felt in Marianne’s embrace. Then with a slow leading stride Lena guided Leah across the floor, in among the other dancing couples.

“Are you enjoying our ball?” Lena’s husky voice whispered in Leah’s ear.

“Yes, very much,” replied Leah enthusiastically.

“And your friend?” Lena asked. She spoke softly, not quite whispering, but her voice smooth and quiet, only audible above the chatter and excitement of the hall because Lena held her mouth close to Leah’s neck.

“My cousin,” Leah tried to reply with the same quiet, nonchalant confidence that she felt in Lena’s voice, holding her lips close to Lena’s neck, “My cousin came with me, Caroline.”

“Your cousin?” Lena sounded vaguely intrigued.

“Yes, the invitation said to bring someone along, and I thought she might enjoy it. She enjoys parties.”

“And you?” Lena looked down at her for a moment, as if trying to read her face, “Do you enjoy parties?”

“Well I am really enjoying this,” Leah replied earnestly.