Beginnings - SF2 by Susan X Meagher Page B

tummy was when you gave me that great massage on St. Patrick's Day."
    "Why do you sleep differently with people?"
    "I'm usually the larger person and people tend to cuddle up to me. It's apparently one of the perks of having a big girlfriend. And it's pretty comfortable to have someone curled up against my side with their head on my shoulder or chest."
    "Like this?" Jamie asked as she snuggled up tight against her side.
    "Exactly. Feels good, doesn't it?"
    "Yeah," she said softly.
    Ryan remembered one major item as she said, "We didn't discuss which side of the bed you want. Any preference?"
    "I don't think so. You?"
    "No, not really. Which side did Jack sleep on?"
    "My left," she said immediately. "Always my left."
    "Excellent," Ryan declared, already in the correct position. "New administration. New side."
    "As long as we're trying new things why don't I lie on my back and you can put your head on me?"
    "Okey dokey," Ryan replied, knowing this experiment would be short-lived. She snuggled up against her smaller partner's right side and gently laid her head just above her breast.
    "Ohhh, this feels nice," Jamie said, happy that she had suggested the arrangement. She could run her fingers through the dark hair, and Ryan's fresh clean smell wafted up to fill her senses. "You've been hogging the good position," she gently chided.
    "Well I like it down here, too," Ryan happily agreed. "I feel all safe and warm, just like I'm in a snug little cocoon. I've been missing a lot up there."
    They were quiet for a few moments and Ryan was nearly asleep when she heard the soft voice say, "Um…my arm's falling asleep."
    "Okay, I'll move a little farther in." Now her head was nearly on Jamie's sternum, but that obviously wasn't going to work as she heard her labored breathing. Finally she rolled onto her back and held her arm open, smiling to herself as her grateful partner climbed into her embrace.
    "Remind me to start following your advice to start with," she said sleepily as she tossed both an arm and a leg across Ryan's body.
    "Mmmm, trapped like a rat," Ryan mused. "Just like I like it."

 

     

Chapter Four
    The next week generally followed the pattern of the previous one. Ryan still arrived by seven, parking her motorcycle a block away. They had breakfast together and usually could manage an hour or so during the middle of the day, but with finals so close that was getting a little harder to pull off.
    Ryan had never fallen behind in her schoolwork and it made her uncomfortable to do so now, so they decided to try to learn how to study together. Every night after a quick dinner they headed over to the Biosciences Library for a couple of hours of concentrated effort.
    Each night started out promising enough but within twenty minutes or so Jamie would look up to find her companion just staring at her with a vacant, lovesick expression on her beautiful face. Jamie would give her a playful scowl and point firmly at her books. Another twenty or thirty minutes later, however, found the same goofy look coming her way and she would indulgently nod and follow Ryan to their secret spot.
    The Biosciences Library was a very large building, five stories tall and usually jammed with people. But since Ryan spent so much time in the place she knew where the quietest nook was. So she would lead Jamie to the most distant part of the stacks and pounce on her with abandon. It was certainly not an ideal solution—the dusty, old, little-used books in this section could have brought on an allergy attack and there was no place to sit. But it was quiet and that was all that they cared about at that point. They would spend five minutes or so gently kissing and hugging, with Jamie putting every bit of effort into making sure that the kisses were loving enough to satisfy her partner but innocent enough to allow Ryan to go back and study.
    But even with these little intimacy breaks, by nine o'clock each night Ryan's gaze locked onto her and she refused to be