The motion of the waves brought a soothing calm to the beach and its slowly dissipating dwellers. The sand was still warm from the sun not long gone from the sky, a few flickering rays of light still visible on the horizon. The air was thick and humid yet it seemed just perfect for the two lovers embracing on the sand. A large boulder allowed them the privacy they craved yet their passionate display seemed to indicate a carelessness that only lovers are acquainted with. The strong motion of the bodies undulating on the sand mirrored the motion of the incoming surf, allowing their desire free, unadulterated reign. It wasn't long before their movements became frantic, needy, desperate. They needed each other like a person longs for air, breathing each other in. The woman on top straddled the brunette, marking her territory with a ferociousness that almost seemed wild in its nature. The brunette pulled her closer still, panting from near exhaustion, feeling her entire energy draining into the thrusting body on top. They were feeding off each other, like hungry animals seeking satisfaction. They were getting close, and both could feel it, but the smaller blonde was insatiable. Gathering her remaining strength, she pushed against the reclined brunette and started moving down her long, supple body. The brunette's eyes rolled back inside her head at the first touch of softness. The feelings were too incredible to describe. Her touch was divine and she was sure she had reached and touched the stars. As the moment was nearing, the brunette pushed her hand into the soft blonde strands of her lover's hair, slowly strengthening her hold. When the blonde finally pushed her over the torturous edge, the brunette pulled strongly on her hair, slamming her head backwards and woke up with a scream.

She was breathing hard, panting really. Her heart was pounding her chest in a steady staccato, making her dizzy. Her shirt clung to her body, drenched in sweat, and the image of her blonde lover was engraved into her eyelids. Jenna couldn't really discern any clear features other than the shiny blonde hair and a pair of blazing green eyes, burning with incredible lust. Jenna couldn't remember the last time she had had a wet dream. And even then it was never that good. She was literally shaking from the effects of her dream. The entire scene kept repeating itself in her mind but for the life of her she couldn't think of any such opportunity that might have brought this dream upon her. Moreover, she didn't know any beautiful blondes with green eyes. That had been quite a revelation since she had found herself increasingly attracted to brunettes. Maybe the dream was trying to tell her something. Shaking her head in wonder and confusion, she got out of bed to shower and change. The clock read 4:00am but she was positive that she would never be able to go back to sleep.

After a quick shower Jenna decided to go on her morning run. She always enjoyed sports and had the body to show for it. She was tall, lean and muscular in all the right places. Pulling her long black hair into a tight ponytail, she put on a pair of clean shorts and a sports bra, grabbed her keys and left her apartment.

The streets were expectedly empty as she made her laps around the neighborhood. Morning would be dawning soon enough and with it all her day to day problems. She worked at a small law firm that for some reason contracted more trouble makers than any of the larger firms. Though she hated to admit it, her friends were right, she shouldn't have become a lawyer. Instead, she should have gone for something more artistic since she loved to paint so much. But dreams, as she always said, should be kept in a small box inside our hearts, shut tightly so no pangs of longing might escape and ruin our perfectly tailored lives. She paid for her decisions in her own way, as each of us does.

After her morning run everything seemed brighter. She quickly showered again and prepared for work. That night, she knew her friends would be taking her out on the town in order to celebrate her big 3-0. While happy that she had such caring and considerate friends, Jenna would have preferred to stay home and watch TV, secretly hoping the day would come to a faster end. She hated birthdays because she knew they were days for fermentation. Everybody made such a big fuss over just another day in which you happened to have been born, and for what? For you to realize, and to have it emphasized over and over again, that you've grown older. On such days ideas and thoughts begin crossing one's mind. Day to day facts become glaring mistakes, the past begins raising its ugly little head and the future ceases from looking as bright as it used to be. The fact that she was 30 and still alone refused to bother Jenna. She made it into her birthday mantra. She was a semi successful lawyer with an apartment of her own, and she was happy. Damn happy. She didn't need someone to tell her what to do and when to do it, that's what friends and parents were for. She could keep her independence and find casual companions whenever the mood hit and her house would remain her own. Deep down she knew she wasn't bullshitting anyone but herself, but the mantra kept her busy. And sane!

Her day at work was as hectic as any other. Going through a kind of routine, the day passed lazily yet surprisingly fast. When she first got to work her parents called, wishing her a happy birthday and promising an upcoming celebration. Afterwards, her friends, one following the other, sang the birthday tune, off key, in consecutively irritating, yet somehow adorable phone calls. Their promise for a celebration actually sounded somewhat threatening when she thought about it later on. Their tone hinted that she should be afraid?very afraid. She chuckled wearily at the thought. She was actually looking forward to spending the night with her friends, fooling around. It had been a while since she saw them last and she had to admit that she kind of missed them. Though she would never admit it to their faces. The prospect of catching up and perhaps letting herself relax looked promising, making her day pass all that much faster.

Finally the time had come. She was ready to head on home and wait for her friends to come and pick her up. The drive to her apartment was fairly short, with not much traffic due to the relatively early hour. They wanted to surprise her, they had said. So there she was, all dressed up and ready to go, waiting for her fashionably late companions for the night to arrive. The doorbell rang and Jenna jumped from her seat to open the door. "Hey guys! Come on in." She motioned the four women and two men inside. Keila, Michelle and Jess were old friends from highschool, Ashley was a friend from work and the guys, Danny and Mark were her college buddies.

"Are you ready to have some fun, old woman?" Asked Danny, playfully slapping her arm.

"Are you interested in a couple of broken bones, old buddy?" Answered Jenna with a smug grin.

The group chuckled when Danny took a step back. "Alright kiddies, let's go. The cars are running, the clubs are awakening and the hunt is about to begin!" Mark howled at the moon.

Jenna shook her head, having a hard time believing these were her best friends. She frowned when Mark took her left arm and Danny her right, leading her to one of their cars while Jess blindfolded her from behind using a silky scarf. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"We're making sure you don't peak till we get you to your surprise. You don't want to ruin it, do you?"

Thoughts started running through her mind, images of possible locations sprang up; it was exciting, she had to admit.

Once they were in the car, Jenna recognized Mark's, Jess' and Michelle's voices. "Where are you taking me? Come on, you know I hate surprises."

Jess chuckled, "Yeah right. You know you love them so shut up and just enjoy the ride."

Jenna frowned.

"So, how do you feel, now that you've crossed the threshold and there's no way back?" Mark smiled from behind the wheel. He loved teasing his friend, mostly because she was such an easy target. He had known her from the first day of college. She was having trouble finding the law building and he happened to have stumbled upon it in his aimless wanderings. It was friendship at first sight. She was actually the one who had introduced him to his fiancée, Michelle.

Jenna chewed on the inside of her cheek slightly before answering. "You must be forgetting something, my dear Mark. You're older than me!" She yelled at the back of his head.

Mark laughed loudly in response when Michelle patted his arm.

Less than half an hour later the drive was over and they parked their cars. "Can I take this off now?" Asked Jenna, indicating the scarf.

"In a minute, hold your horses, will ya?" Said Jess.

They pulled to a stop and Jenna slowly blinked her eyes open, trying to adjust to the dimness of the night. A few feet ahead stood a club with a large sign hanging over it, The Cat's Den. People were crowding the club's entrance, filling the sidewalks with chatter and smoke. It looked dingy but Jenna figured it would be as good a place as any to relax with a drink or two and have some fun with her friends.

"Nice, ain't it?" Asked Danny.

Jenna raised an incredulous eyebrow, "You've gotta be kidding, right?"

"What, you don't like?"

"Well, to tell you honestly, it kinda looks like a dump, and that name doesn't even make any sense."

"Always a critic." Danny shook his head and pushed her forward.

Before Jenna could take another step, she found herself on her knees, clutching her chest, staring widely somewhere ahead, deep into the crowd. Her friends were frantic with worry as they tried to find what the matter was. They kept asking questions that simply bounced back unanswered because Jenna's attention was thoroughly and otherwise captivated. For the first time in her life, she realized what it meant to have your breath rush out of your lungs, feel them burning with lack of air as your heart resumed beating double pace. She couldn't swallow, her tongue was too thick and her throat was completely parched. She was sweating though there was a cool breeze blowing. No one could explain her crazed reaction until they saw someone looking just as intently from the other side of the street. She was petite, with short blonde hair. But what made Jenna's heart stop beating for that eternal moment in time, was the pair of intense emerald eyes searing through her soul. They had a hold on her that no one could seem to relinquish. The blonde stepped closer, coming out of the crowd like a siren rising out of the sea, intent written all over her features. When she was close enough to touch, she raised a gentle hand and caressed Jenna's soft tresses with the tips of her fingers.

The touch was electrifying. It brought Jenna back to life. Air suddenly filled her starved lungs as the rest of her body resumed its normal functions. Without wavering from the intense gaze, Jenna placed her hands on the softly rounded hips of the blonde and used her leg muscles to pull herself to her feet. Standing in front of her dream phantom, Jenna was sure she was hallucinating. She was positive that old age had gotten the better of her and was playing tricks on her eyes and other four senses. That sweet smell couldn't be real, nor the touch of those warm hands. She was a phantom, a figment of her overactive imagination and her friends, she had no doubt, thought she had gone off the deep end. Swallowing thickly, yet afraid to utter a single word, she leaned closer to her phantom. She had to know if she was real. The touch of those pliant lips against her own made her blood boil. Her taste was too much. She was definitely real and alive, and right there in front of her. A stranger that caught her eye in a dark alley. That thought quickly pulled her from her stupor and she jerked backwards, almost head butting Danny who was standing close behind. Her friends were slackjawed when she looked around. She was just as surprised. In all her years she had never done anything remotely close.

The blonde phantom was the first to speak, "I'm Drew." She smiled charmingly and offered her hand.

Jenna bit her lip in nervousness, taking the warm hand into her own. "I'm Jenna. I'm so sorry?" Before she could finish her sentence, Drew stopped her with a second kiss.

"I'm not." Drew knew that her companions were watching and that they probably didn't approve, but she didn't care. She had never felt this way before. If love at first sight was a running joke for her like, she had to laugh at the irony. Fate liked to play cruel jokes on people, but sometimes, the irony was practically poetic.

"Ahem." Mark decided to break the love fest in order to see what the heck was wrong with his friend. She never acted that way and so blatantly provocative with a girl like Drew. Drew was dressed to kill, she had on a pair of knee high black leather boots, a shorter than short black mini skirt and a red tank that left little to the imagination. It was quite clear what the girl did for a living, but her behavior toward Jenna was strange and questionable.

Jenna glanced toward Mark. She was confused and disoriented and all she really wanted was to feel those soft lips against her own for an eternity.

"Jenna, I think we'd better head inside. We're making a scene," Said Mark.

Drew gulped visibly and took a step back. She was afraid to return to her mates but her fear of leaving Jenna behind and never seeing her again equaled and even surmounted the former. She lowered her eyes as though in guilt and was prepared to face the consequences when a firm hold on her arm stopped her. Slowly, she raised her head to look into an intense pair of blue ice chips that threatened to rip her heart into shreds. "Don't go," Jenna whispered, afraid that if she said anything any louder, the dream would snap and burst into a million little pieces.

Drew's lips stretched into a tiny smile and she accepted the silent invitation to move closer, into the brunette's personal space. Before another scene could ensue, Mark grabbed Jenna's left arm, trying to pull her away from the smaller woman. "Come on, Jenna. Let's go inside. This isn't exactly the surprise we meant for you." He chuckled dryly.

Jenna turned half a glance in his direction, never quite losing contact with the blonde, "Mark, please. Let go." When his hold only continued to grow firmer, her blue eyes turned fully on him, burning a hole into his face, "Mark!" Mark dropped her arm unceremoniously and stepped back in shock. It was the first time he had heard his friend actually snap at him that way.

Two of Drew's "friends" were beginning to make their way toward the forming crowd, deciding they had waited enough on the sidelines. Sauntering their way through the throng of people, their heels made a clinking noise that reverberated in both Jenna's and Drew's heads. Drew pulled Jenna's face closer and whispered hotly in her ear, "Come with me." There was no room for questions, no room for lingering doubts, Jenna was more sure about this than she had been about anything else in her life. She knew for certain that these feelings didn't pop up everyday, and that the dream and the special date were signs from up above that were meant to lead her in this direction. Jenna was sure her friends hadn't had such a scene in mind when they came up with this hell-hole slash club idea, but she was grateful nonetheless. Placing her arm around the blonde's trim waist, she pulled her out of the crowd and toward the parking lot. She didn't need a car, she didn't need anything but the beautiful girl hanging tightly to her arm.

Her friends yelled after her, frantic with worry and amazement, but their voices fell on deaf ears, the women were already too far gone. Drew's companions looked on, shaking their heads disapprovingly. Finally, they shrugged and went back to their spot, waiting to pick the next prospective client for the night.

Jenna wound her arm more tightly around Drew's waist, pulling her away faster, into the darkness of the night. She had to be alone with her phantom, she had to feel the truth with her body, desperately attempting to convince her uncooperative brain. It wasn't too hard to find an empty room at that hour of the night, and Drew, while she couldn't hide a twinge of shame, had to admit that she knew her way around town. They had barely gotten inside the room when Jenna slammed Drew against the door, kissing her roughly, biting and sucking like a starving animal. She knew she was probably leaving bruises but she was happy, she wanted to show the world that this girl was hers. Her mind shut down completely when she felt the small hands unbuttoning her shirt and pants, ripping the material from her over heated body. They wanted to touch skin and clothes were a barrier neither wished to deal with.

Naked and mauling each other, Jenna led Drew backwards toward the bed. Falling on top of the moaning blonde, she kissed her way down to her throat and then licked a scorching path down the heaving chest. Her taste was real, her smell was intoxicating, and her touch?was tearing her apart. As their naked limbs tangled together they lost sight of where one body ended and the other began. They moved in such perfect sync, making the bed squeak a tune that only lovers recognized. Her tongue couldn't compare to the one she had felt in her dream. This was tangible, she knew it couldn't be anything but real. The pleasure was so acute that it almost bordered on pain as Jenna pulled Drew up by the hair, holding her tightly against her as she thrust her fingers inside for the first time. The movement of muscles clenching and pulling almost made Jenna go over the edge herself, but she wanted to wait, wanted to meld their souls together when the precipice was close in sight. Jenna's back began to arch away from the bed as Drew clutched the skin of her shoulders. Drew's brow frowned in concentration, uttering sounds only heard in the wilderness. Her muscles tensed and she threw her head back with an anguished scream as she spiraled toward orgasm.

Exhausted but hardly satiated, Drew propped her head slowly on her palm, looking into Jenna's warm blue eyes. She swallowed and looked long and hard. When her breathing clamed she said, "I don't know what this is all about."

Jenna smiled gently, "You are so beautiful."

Drew couldn't help it, a glistening tear made a slow track down her blushing cheek, landing with a soundless plop on Jenna's chest.

"I didn't say that to make you cry," said Jenna, wiping the tear tracks away.

"I'm?I don't know what to say. I know this must be real, but it feels like a dream?a dream I never want to wake up from," confessed a still teary eyed Drew.

"Then let this be our dream. We don't ever have to wake up. I'll be whatever you want me to be and you'll be?you, my love, my phantom, my beautiful fantasy." Jenna hugged the blonde close to her chest.

Drew tucked her head under Jenna's chin and said, "But we can't. Everything will change in the morning. We both have the lives we've created for ourselves and those lives demand things from us. They won't let us be together, no matter how much we wish for it."

There was a long moment of silence that seemed to stretch over an eternity. Both knew the consequences of their actions will sorely follow in the morning, but for the moment they were happy. As happy as either of them could remember being. They didn't know the reason and were uninterested in finding out. For once, they just let themselves feel and follow wherever their hearts led.

"Real life is way overrated. Ever been to Bermuda? I've always wanted to go there." Jenna smiled when soft wisps of blonde hair slapped her nose.

"What?" Drew was stunned, she was positive they would only have the night, and was already planning on making the most of it, but Jenna seemed to have other plans.

"I think 30 years are enough to have life dictated to you by others, don't you?" Jenna raised a questioning brow.

A slow smile spread across Drew's lips. Maybe the Fates had something different in store for her after all. "I can't believe you're for real," she whispered in astonishment.

"I couldn't believe it either until I felt you in my arms. To tell you the truth, part of me still doesn't believe it." She paused for a moment before continuing, "You take my breath away."

Drew swallowed her emotions and let a sensual smile curl her lips, "Shall we try to give new meanings to that line, my love?"

Jenna licked her lips in anticipation, "It would be my pleasure."

The future looked bright indeed and the past just didn't seem so gloomy anymore. Getting older sure had its benefits.


The End