Sleep-over

Liv and Riley had been friends since the beginning of high school, but this was their first sleep-over: Riley’s parents were away and didn’t want her to be alone. The girls were up late, the last ones awake in the house, lying side by side on Liv’s bed, whispering and giggling; both were clad in tank tops and panties, ready for sleeping but not the least sleepy. Only a desk lamp remained on, casting soft light across the bed.

“Have you had sex?” Riley asked, apropos of nothing at all.

Liv snorted. “You kidding? I’m not even allowed to date yet.”

“Well duh, I know you don’t have a boyfriend. I meant, like, with a girl.” Riley rolled onto her side to get a look at Liv’s face.

“No. Good grief. No! I’m not… you know…” A blush bloomed in Liv’s cheeks.

“Lesbian?”

“Yeah.”

“So you haven’t had sex,” Riley persisted.

“No. Cut it out, Ri.”

There was quiet for a moment. Riley rolled back onto her back. Her body touched her friend’s at shoulder and hip. Both of them noticed.

“It’s not gay if you’re, y’know, just playing around with friends,” she offered.

“Yes it is,” Liv protested.

“Well, what I mean is, it doesn’t make you gay just to try stuff that you would do if you were.”

“What?”

Riley sighed. “You can fool around, y’know, just for fun, and still be… well, regular.”

“Says who?”

Riley debated her answer for a few seconds, and then decided to take a chance. “I’ve played with another girl, and it didn’t make me into a lez.”

Liv rolled to face Riley and Riley copied the motion. The girls lay face to face, almost touching.

“Who?” demanded Liv.

“Not telling.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. A few times.”

Liv searched her friend’s face, and found no deceit. “And it was fun?”

“Yes. Fun and… I’ve had an orgasm, now — I know what that’s like.”

“As good as people—”

“Better,” Riley interrupted. “Wait and see.”

Liv’s eyes widened. “You think I would orgasm, too?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Riley reached out and gently laid a tentative hand on Liv’s bare shoulder. “So… whaddaya say?”

Liv felt her body responding in unfamiliar ways: with heat, with tremor, with a quickened pulse. “I… I don’t even know what girls do,” she whispered.

“We kiss. And then other things,” Riley whispered back. Her hand slipped down from Liv’s shoulder to her hip, coming to rest above her panties. “I’ll show you.”

“I never even—” Liv began, and then Riley’s lips silenced her.

— Frenulum