Previously

When she walked into the steam filled shower room with her soap etc. in tow she saw Erin standing naked, with her back toward Bette under one of the shower heads. Bette walked over to and turned on a shower that was positioned so that she would be facing the wall while shower. She stepped under the hot water and peeled the suit off of her exhausted frame.

Erin had heard Bette turn on her shower, looked over, and noticed that her legs were still quaking slightly.

Hey, Bette, she called, Are you okay?

What? Oh yea, Im fine, just a little tired.

Erin was now walking toward Bette looking concerned. Are you sure, youre shaking, she said as she gently laid a hand on Bettes shoulder.

At this Bette began to tremble even more, she looked down at the ground, afraid that if she looked at Erin she would be able to see how Bette felt, and mumbled that she was fine.

Bette, look at me, I want to know if you are really ok, and I cant tell whether or not you are lying of you wont look at me. Erins soft voice was full of pleading and sounded more than slightly worried.

Bette took a deep breathe and leaned back against the metal column. She tried to calm her shaking legs then looked straight into Erins beautiful blue eyes, Really, Im just tired, I promise I will be fine in a few minutes. I wouldnt lie to you. The warmth and concern that Bette saw in those eyes allowed her to relax and soon her legs had stopped shaking. When Erin saw that Bette really was okay she smiled weakly at her and walked back over to finish her own shower.

While they were changing Erin told her that she was sure that, if they continued to practice in the mornings, Bette would be able to make the team when tryouts were held in three weeks. She also said that Bette had an excellent backstroke and this praise eased the burning of her limbs, but only slightly.

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Bette pulled into her driveway that afternoon, let herself into the empty house, slowly climbed the stairs and dropped her school bag, swim bag, and all the books which wouldnt fit into her schoolbag onto her bed with a groan. She completely exhausted and beyond stressed. In addition to everything that had happened before school, her classes that day had been a nightmare. The teachers at St Marys apparently didnt understand the concept of easing students into the school year. Bette had enough homework to keep her busy for at least five hours. She collapsed onto the bed next to her bags and books. For a few moments she just laid there, enjoying the feeling of simply lying on her back with her eyes closed and giving her exhausted legs a break. She reluctantly turned over to face her clock.
2:45
*****, she thought. I had better get started or I will never finish.
Bette slowly walked across the room to her desk and stacked her books next to it on the floor. She scowled when she saw that the pile came to just above her knee. While bending down to pick up the first book in the pile, Bette gasped in sudden pain. She felt a huge knot develop in her thigh muscle.

After spending several minutes trying unsuccessfully to work the knot out of her leg, Bette decided that she might as well take a shower to ease the knot and let herself relax a bit before starting on her homework.

While the steaming water poured from the shower head Bette slowly undressed. She slipped off and stepped out of her skirt carefully, avoiding any further aggravation of her already pained legs. Her hands unbuttoned her shirt and Bette began to think back to the mornings workout that had caused the ache which was plaguing her entire body. How the ***** am I supposed to get through the next three weeks of private swimming lessons? I was so stressed that whole time. How the ***** am I supposed to keep her from finding outwhat?

Bette put her thoughts on hold as she slipped out of her underwear and stepped gratefully under the cascade of hot water. She inhaled the steam filled air and felt the tension between her shoulders and in her neck ease under the flow of the water. She turned her attention back to the knot that had developed in her thigh. The combination of hot water and gentle kneading gradually removed the knot.

Bette stood in the steam for a moment, with the water pounding lightly on her back and her head tilted back. Slowly, her hands moved their way up to her neck, hoping to give her entire body the release from tension her thigh was now enjoying. Her fingertips dragged gently along her neck, across her collarbone and down to gently tease her *****. As she massaged her ***** Bette felt her nipples harden and her ***** begin throbbing, all the while her skin took in the sensation of water beating down on and coursing over her body. She slowly allowed one hand to drift downward, following the path that the water was taking between her ***** and down over her toned stomach while the other continued to tease her *****. Her fingers slipped through her moist curls and she ran her fingers with a feather light touch over her outer folds and was amazed to feel how wet she was. Her ***** had begun to throb almost intolerably and Bette quickly thrust one, then two fingers into her core and began to develop a slow rhythm than began to quicken and build as Bettes breathing became erratic and shallow and her eyelids fluttered for a moment before closing under the onslaught of her hands. Just before she came, the hazy image that she usually had in her mind while pleasuring herself, which had always revealed itself as a vague masculine figure without any distinct or defining characteristics when she climaxed, became perfectly clear. Beneath her closed lids Bette had a perfect image of Erin as she had placed her hand on Bettes shoulder and peered into her eyes that morning. This vision burned itself into Bettes mind as she felt herself contract on her fingers for what seemed like an impossibly long time. When Bette regained control of her body and she was leaning against the wall of her shower gasping for breathe and trying to process what had just happened.

Bette had had ***** with her most recent boyfriend, Chris, who had moved east to attend Duke that fall, but she had never been able to *****, she had always faked it. She had assumed that this was because they had both been virgins, and that he would eventually be able to bring her over the edge. When this failed to happen, Bette didnt tell him because she had been afraid of hurting him. The only climaxes she had ever achieved had been those she had created for herself. And these had been nothing compared to the ***** she had just experienced. Bette slowly let herself slide down the wall so that she was sitting under the falling water, letting the rhythm it created on her back soothe her. And her most powerful ***** had now occurred while she was thinking of Erin. What is this, Im straightSTRAIGHT. I always have been. Ive had six boyfriends and when I had been with Chris it had been a serious relationship we had been together for over 16 months when we broke up over the summer, and he had even considered going to school on the west coast so that we could have stayed together. How can this be happening, wouldnt I have had any idea about being ***** before now? Ive been alive for almost 18 years and I have never felt this way about a girl before, shouldnt I have ***** figured it out yet if Im *****? Im not there is no way Bette thoughts drifted back to the image that had permeated her mind as she had orgasmed, she found herself thinking about what it would feel like to kiss a girl, about how soft and smooth Erins lips had looked, imaging what it would feel like to kiss Erin, to hold her slight form in her arms, how she would feel under her hands Bettes eyes snapped open Oh god it was hard enough to hide how I feel when I didnt even understand where those thoughts were coming from, now its going to be almost impossible. Bettes mind went completely blank as she tried to fathom the repercussions that would result from anyone finding out about what she was thinking or how she was feeling. Erin would probably hate me, my father the arch-conservative would flip and as an added bonus Im going to a Catholic school. Bette forced these thoughts out of her mind and climbed out of the shower, wrapping herself in a towel and neatening the bathroom, before she walked back to her room and changed into her pajamas.

Before tackling her homework Bette unpacked her swim bag and found the suit that she had worn today. She had been beyond relieved when Erin had told her that she could borrow the suit until she had decided whether or not she would stay with swimming, at which point she would buy one of her own. This eliminated one way that Erin could have found out about how Bette felt around her. Despite the panic she had been feeling earlier, Bette smiled slightly as she looked at the suit, thinking back to the concern Erin had showed in the shower and thinking, Maybeno, never mind. That smile snuck its way onto her face each time she took a brake from studying that night, just as the thought fought its way into her mind whenever her train of thought lapsed.

TBC