Lessons in Lesbianism - 6

Meet Me at the Midway

The performances by the second years had been fairly good. Not the highest level of acting that she’d ever seen, but enjoyable and better than most student groups could manage (or some theatre groups). There was a lean towards comedy, and not all of the women performing had the chops for it, but they were clearly having fun and that shone through to lead to laughter from the audiences that trickled in and out all morning.

Still, Olivia was fairly glad when the performances ended and she and Eliza were now free to explore the rest of the fair. Their ticket books would only stretch so far, but they were both prepared to buy some extra tickets if they ran out. They didn’t have to leave until the last ferry at eight, and wanted to make the best of it.

“Rides first, I think,” Eliza said, looking over the crowds that had now formed. “Don’t want to have to worry about what to do with prizes by winning them first.”

“Confident you’re going to win a bunch of them, are you?” Olivia asked.

“I’ve got a cute girl to impress, so of course,” Eliza said with a grin.

A grin that left Olivia blushing and rather frazzled. She really didn’t know how to respond to that, but she did suppose she appreciated her friend being kind to her. Eliza had always treated her more or less the same as the other girls, and she was glad for that.

Even when she felt sure it was out of kindness rather than being ultimately truthful. Olivia was, after all, well aware of the squareness of her jaw. The size of her nose. All those little tells that showed she hadn’t completely avoided the touch of a masculine puberty, only that she’d stopped before the worst of it had taken hold.

“What do you say we try the spinny UFO thing?” Eliza offered, seeming to want to shake Olivia out of her thoughts.

“Sure, those can be fun,” Olivia replied, smiling and trying to focus on the present.

The line hadn’t been too bad, either. Just long enough for them to make plans for what to ride next, after the UFO. Though they’d both ended up dizzy enough from the human sized centrifuge to change their minds and try the ferris wheel next, instead of the—well, Olivia wasn’t sure what the proper name for them was. Those other spinners, though you were seated on a bench instead of laying down like on the UFO.

The ferris wheel wasn’t quite as exciting as either had hoped, though the views of the northern Saanich Peninsula were quite nice.

Then it was on to the spinning ride that was, at least vaguely, designed to look like a great monstrous octopus. Eliza took the outside seat, pointing out that she was the larger of the two of them, and they waited for the ride to fill up. Then they were off, slowly at first, but gradually spinning faster and faster. Until then the ride began to lift and tilt, swinging them up into the air. Olivia found herself pressed against Eliza’s side by the force of the spinning, and she wasn’t sure if it was the thrill of the ride or the proximity that left her heart racing so.

Whatever the case, she was more than a little disappointed when the spinning thrill of it all came to an end and she no longer had the excuse to be pressed against Eliza.

She found herself rather flustered after the initial rush. Why was she so flustered? They were just two girls… sure, Eliza was a lesbian, but Olivia wasn’t. She really shouldn’t be so frazzled by just spending some time in close proximity to another woman.

Well… maybe that was it? The fact she could have platonic physical contact with another woman like this was what was so thrilling? That… that made sense… right? Just making up for lost time with friendships in high school?

She wanted to think it did as Eliza led her to another ride. One of those spinning pirate ships that were always a bit much for Olivia, but, hey… who knew when she’d get to go to another carnival? She might as well push her limits.

Once they were upside down, however, she regretted agreeing to it, and found her one hand that could reach clinging to Eliza’s wrist with a force she was later certain had to have been painful. (At the moment, though, she’d only been thinking about the terror of the ride. In the end, in what felt like a miracle to her adrenaline flooded mind, they’d survived the ride and been let out for the next round of riders to pile on.

“Sorry about your wrist,” she said, once she’d regained her composure on the ground.

“No worries. I could tell you were a bit spooked. Sorry I pushed,” Eliza replied, wearing that soft and caring smile of hers. “I just thought you needed a little nudge.”

“I… m—maybe I did,” Olivia mumbled, twiddling her thumbs together. “I think I’ll definitely be less scared the next time I try one of those.”

“Did you—”

“Not today though,” Olivia said, raising a still slightly shaky hand. “That was… that was enough for today.”

“Sorry. Sorry,” Eliza replied, putting on an apologetic smile and scratching the back of her head. “Did, um… did you want to eat? I know it’s not quite dinner time, but we also didn’t really have lunch, so…”

Olivia nodded. She was at least mildly hungry. They headed over to the food stall area, Olivia deciding to grab some pad thai while Eliza went for a burger with curly fries. They chatted about school a bit as they ate, as much about the classes they didn’t share as the ones that they did. It was nice and relaxing after the mild terror of the pirate ship ride.

Once they’d finished eating (and then talked for at least another ten minutes or so) they disposed of the garbage from the food and then headed off towards the games area. They had to refill on tickets, but then it was time to see what prizes they could win. Olivia tried her best at whack-a-mole, but didn’t get anywhere near a winning score. Eliza then took a stab at it, dramatically centring herself before falling just short of winning any prizes.

She insisted that it had always been one of her weaker games, though. To show off some actual skills, she headed over to a basketball hoops game, and proceeded to win a medium sized alien plush for Olivia (all the plushes at that stand were aliens, but Olivia found them sort of cute). Eliza then hurried off to a shooting gallery, seeing that it had cuter stuffed creatures to win, and had soon won a cute orca plush, which she also handed to Olivia.

“Is everything ok?” Eliza asked, a few moments after handing Olivia the plush.

“Oh, it’s very alright… I’m just… I’m just remember how, when I was thirteen, my parents decided to sell all my stuffed animals… that was before I realised I was a girl, so they said I didn’t need them anymore,” she replied, nudging her glasses out of the way to rub her eyes clean of tears that were starting to form.

“They—well, then, there’s only one thing for it,” Eliza replied, before turning and heading over to a hammer strength test.

Olivia hurried after her, stammering weakly that Eliza didn’t need to win her anything more… but her heart wasn’t really in that. No one had made any real effort to get her any stuffed animals since that garage sale all those years ago, and she couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy at the idea Eliza wanted to change that. Or help feeling flustered at the caring looking she had seen in Eliza’s eyes.

Instead she stared in quiet admiration as the tall and well muscled woman managed to ding the bell on the challenge, winning her a large shark plush. The only downside to winning that was the sudden struggle to carry three plushes with only two arms. Eliza swooped in to help, taking the alien.

“Maybe we should get a bag,” Eliza said, her eyes drifting off to look for other stuffed critters to possibly win.

“I think this is a good amount for today, Eliza,” Olivia replied, smiling away. “I only have so much space in my suitcase for flying home after all.”

Eliza nodded, though didn’t seem fully convinced. She insisted that if Olivia saw anything she wanted in the prizes that she’d win it for her. Olivia, however, mostly just wanted something to drink. Eliza conceded, and the pair headed back to the concessions area.

The taller woman ended up getting a novelty sized slush drink while Olivia stuck to simply a large cola… and then got lured in by the appeal of cotton candy. Hands now thoroughly filled, they simply wandered the fair aimlessly, looking at the sights and taking in the bustle of it. Eventually they wandered to the actually agriculturally themed section, marvelling at the size of the pumpkins and zucchinis and such on display. And both agreed that any vegetable that large surely couldn’t taste all that good.

There was a petting zoo that they both felt a bit too old to enter, but they were happy to watch from a distance at the adorable interactions between the animals and small children. Other animals were also on display, pigs and cows and such. Animals that didn’t really go in a petting zoo. Children seemed mystified by them, while both young women didn’t really know what to do beyond walking past and appreciated that many of them were fairly cute.

The sun was beginning to set at that point, and the pair headed back towards the rides and games. There was a lovely ambience to be found amongst all those lights and noises as the sun dipped through the golden hour and into dusk.

Eliza then led them over to a stall selling local First Nations’ art. She bought a pair of matching keychains, one for herself and one for Olivia. A token to remember how much they enjoyed one another’s company. Olivia blushed, wondering at how that seemed almost romantic, and worried how any of Eliza’s future girlfriends might react… still, she supposed that the rules of jealousy must have been different with lesbians, since female friends could be so much closer. As she’d worried about all that, Eliza had gotten a couple of other things, souvenirs for friends back home. Eliza also made sure to get a bag, to make carrying everything easier.

With that done, the pair headed over to where a small shuttle bus was waiting. There were buses to Sidney (connecting to the general bus network of the larger Victoria region) and then buses to the Swartz Ferry Terminal. They had a few minutes to wait for the latter, but couldn’t really complain. It was pleasant enough to simply however at the edge of the fair, even if it was starting to get a bit chillier. Even with their jackets.

Thankfully the bus arrived before Olivia got too much colder, and they were on their way to the ferry terminal. They still had a bit of time to wait until their ferry, but at least they were warm inside the terminal…

Olivia found herself mildly drowsy as they waited, sitting on a bench beside Eliza. She was pretty sure she’d dozed at some point, as she’d found herself leaning against the other woman suddenly, but Eliza didn’t complain. The ferry was polite enough to arrive before she’d fully fallen asleep, but the gentle rocking as it made its way over towards the islands was too much and she fully fell asleep.

It had taken gentle prodding from Eliza to wake her back up, and even then she’d nearly forgotten her plushes without Eliza’s reminder.

They then made a quick walk back to the residence, Ophilia Island surprisingly bustling due to the student population being happy to be out and partying on a Saturday night. Most of the folks around hadn’t woken up nearly as early as the pair of them, after all.

Getting back to their pod, and reaching their floor of the small residence building, there was then a moment of tension. A need to separate, to go to their different rooms. Olivia found herself struggling to do so, however. She hovered indecisively in the hallway as Eliza opened her own dorm room door.

“My roommate is out for the night,” she said. “Since she’s just from Vancouver, she goes back to the mainland to visit in girlfriend every weekend.”

“Oh…” Olivia said, nodding slightly… until a mental image flashed in her mind.

The briefest idea of following Eliza into her room leading to a… physical end to the night. Which, with how handsome Eliza was, she almost wouldn’t have minded giving in to… if not for the mechanics of who had what in their pants. The reminder, both of her own shame inducing parts and how those would fit with Eliza’s body, left Olivia much too flushed to stay in the hallway.

“Well, I had a very nice day!” Olivia blurted, before rushing to unlock her door. She had nearly gone through and closed it when she realised there was something else she should added, and she peaked out to quickly add: “Goodnight!”

She then kicked off her shoes, pulled off her pants, and buried her head under her pillow to muffle a barely voiced scream. All while trying to process just what that had meant. Why did a handsome woman get to her so much more than a handsome man? She was straight… she had to be.

She remembered how her parents had drilled her, to make sure her desire to be a woman wasn’t simply misplaced attraction. Wasn’t a confusion of a longing for female companionship.

Olivia knew she wasn’t wrong about being a girl, though…