A Lifeline for Hayley

A concerned Jane looked down at her favourite picture. She was arm-in-arm with the Hayley she remembered, the beautiful bride's face radiating pure joy. It was six years ago. They were both delirious that best friends had just become sisters-in-law.

The battered album on her lap had dozens of photos of them over the years. The two extroverts had been close ever since their early teens, even insisting on a joint twenty-first birthday party seven years ago. Their real birthdays were only three weeks apart.

In almost every shot, the natural beauty and outgoing nature of her best friend stood out. She dwelt on some shots she'd taken of Hayley a year ago at the beach. In her bikini, she had the nicely shaped bust and hourglass figure that were classic male fantasy material. There were earlier shots of her mingling and dancing at parties looking a knockout in the mini skirts she loved to wear to them. And that classic photo in the park, with two men passing in different directions behind her as she posed in her shorts, both openly checking out the shapely long legs.

Jane had last seen Hayley her five months ago at the airport when they both had seen Garry off overseas to start his current job. Shortly after, she had rung Jane to say the familiar long honey brown hair had been trimmed to shoulder length. That wasn't that change that concerned her though. Rather, it was the increasingly pessimistic tone in the calls that followed and the fact they were becoming less and less frequent.

The latest had come so late last night it had gone to her message bank. There was none of Hayley's light and breezy nature in it, just a rambling message from a voice heavily laden with fatigue and defeat. When the two friends had parted after Garry's plane had taken off, Hayley had sworn to bury herself writing her novel. Since then, it seemed she had almost imprisoned herself in the remote country house she and Garry had bought.

Garry himself had spent little time there. She remembered that Hayley had thought he was so good-looking when they went out in groups in their late teens, but Jane was surprised when they ended up together. It seemed to smack of family disloyalty, but Jane had long thought her big brother was far too selfish and boorish by nature to be a good match for Hayley's personality. The time from courtship to marriage was brief. And it was barely days after their wedding four years ago, she'd noticed him already taking his beautiful young bride for granted.

Garry worked on oil rigs. The last departure was to the third overseas job in five years he had applied for and got, leaving her behind each time. While away, he never thought to visit when time allowed. Jane never doubted in his own crude way he loved his wife. But he drank too heavily at times and his lifestyle was so unimaginative. He thought providing a house and a good income for his wife was enough. But Hayley had hinted twice towards the end of his previous absence that she was getting frustrated with the amount of time apart.

Jane's intuition was that the sweet easy-going young woman she used to know had been virtually marooned out there for far too long. She grabbed the phone and rang yet again.

"Pick up, Hayley, pick up," she impatiently urged. She felt immensely relieved when her prayer was answered.

But despite it being mid-afternoon, the voice at the other end sounded morose and exhausted. Jane decided she must get her down for a four- or five-day break soon, next week if possible. She decided on a soft approach and asked about the book first.

"It's driving me nuts, Jane," was the frank reply.

This seemed a good time already to put the invitation to her friend. She crossed her fingers as Hayley thought out loud, weighing the offer up. The house could be locked up. Time away like that may be just what she needed. And it would be good to catch up. She liked the idea of five days to relax a bit and get herself together.

She thought she was losing her though when Hayley started repeating "next week, next week". Jane was overjoyed and surprised when she heard Hayley actually ask could she get up early tomorrow and drive down straight away, rather than wait until then. The apologetic voice pointed out she wouldn't arrive there until very late in the evening.

Jane thought quickly. She had two week's leave still. Straight away, she assured Hayley she'd wait up for her. Then she added that she had another guest in the larger bed in the guest room for two or three days. Would Hayley mind sharing the room and sleeping in the single bed? They would plan things to do when Hayley got up in the morning. She assured her that Angie may be her idea of excellent company.

"Just seeing you again will be great," Hayley admitted, Jane hearing the first positive note in ages creeping back into her voice. She started to feel confident that in five days the break alone would really lift her best friend's spirits.

An excited Jane stayed up late into the next night. She raised a hullabaloo when the car pulled in just after midnight on the humid summer night. Hugging and dancing about a subdued Hayley Jane stopped as she remembered the long trip she'd just had. Stepping back, she put welcoming hands on her friend's shoulders. Hayley looked a lot more drawn and gaunt than the effects of a long drive would inflict. Grabbing her suitcase, Hayley ushered her inside and straight to the guest bedroom, turning on the light then quickly dimming it. A good night kiss on the cheek and Jane started to back away, smiling warmly as her friend rummaged in her case and took her nightie and toiletries out.

"By the way, that's Angie", she whispered stopping at the door. Hayley glanced across at the barely-open eyes of the blonde-headed woman face outstretched face-down on the double bed peering away from under the lifted white sheet.

A sleepy bare arm lifted itself from the sheet and weakly waved. Then, clutching the sheet to her front, Angie turned to the wall, exposing a wide seam of flawless skin along her bare back. Noting the heat, Jane turned the overhead fan up a notch and raced out as Hayley began unbuttoning her shirt.

A minute later, she came back in with a jug of ice water and two glasses. Her startled friend spun away to finish to undoing her bra. Jane found it ironic. Hayley had that killer body and was a born flirt, yet had always been super modest about being topless or nude, even with her.

Jane watched her rush to slip the short nightie over her head and shimmy it down her bare back. She had certainly lost weight. As Jane left again, she heard Hayley offer to turn the light off herself in a minute.

Jane slipped back ten minutes later when the faint light still hadn't been extinguished. Hayley was out to it under the top sheet. She wasn't in her favourite sleeping position that Jane remembered so well, flat out on her back with her arms flung in a swordsman-like position either side of her head. Instead she was bent up in a foetal position. Looking at her friend's troubled face, Jane knew her job was far from done yet. There were worry lines coming and going on her brow, and her mouth was occasionally twitching.

She checked Angie. She was back on her front again, her long body almost fully stretched out down the middle of the large bed. Face down and naked, she only had one leg still under the top sheet. It didn't concern Jane though that Hayley might wake and see Angie nude. Her modesty was surprisingly one-way. Jane recalled in her teens she loved going to the more private areas of beaches with Jane and all their other girlfriends. She was completely blasé about everyone else removing their tops and sometimes everything to tan and swim. However, she always kept her own bikini on.

Late next morning, Jane stole in and playfully woke her by jumping like a puppy atop her sleepy form. Tousling her hair, she saw Hayley's first attempt at some cheeriness. She insisted Hayley needed to get up for an immediate late brunch at one of the local cafes, her treat.

It got awkward at times in the early stages of breakfast. Despite a sound sleep, her sister-in-law initially seemed so lost and sad. However, as they started swapping memories, Jane noticed her become noticeably brighter. And Hayley's healthy appetite was a good sign.

They agreed to fit in with Jane's prior plans to go out to the local bistro that night with Angie. She had got up very early and left the house much earlier but was due back late in the evening.

Jane went on to suggest to Hayley that maybe the three of them could venture on afterwards to a nearby art-house cinema. She guessed the writer part of her friend may relish that idea.

They met up with Angie outside the bistro as arranged. The handsomely beautiful nurse needed to be re-introduced to Hayley. She had arrived dressed casually in a pale yellow blouse and long-legged jeans, a look that suited her mid thirties. She was glad when Angie instantly took a huge interest in her friend's writing, and how amazingly well the pair launched a mutually fluent conversation between themselves from that start.

She was rapt in the rate of Hayley's marked improvement over those few hours. A great night out had seen her friend regain a lot of her vive. There was an impetuous confidence bordering on the old flirtatiousness again on her face. Jane noticed that the men at neighbouring tables slyly turning to eye them off as a trio always kept their last glimpse for her stunning best friend.

On the humid summer night stroll back home, Jane and Angie each took one of Hayley's arms, discussing the film in depth. They decided to wrap up the night with two bottles of wine Angie had bought that day. Despite the lateness, they sprawled partly over cushions, partly over each other, on the carpet in front of Jane's couch, shoes off. The talking and laughing went on non-stop until just before one o'clock.

The second bottle of wine was empty after Angie lifted her head from Hayley's lap and refreshed their glasses. As she handed Hayley's up, she asked philosophically, with no disrespect to Garry, what Hayley would expect from the ideal partner in a relationship. Jane watched a poignant expression form on her friend's face.

"Heaps!" Hayley eventually said and began a list. "A warm hand on mine. A shoulder to rest my head on. An ability to communicate on all levels. Offering a reassuring noise of some kind whenever it gets too quiet." Pausing thoughtfully, she reflected and lamented. "I've come to hate the quiet. There's been tons of it with Garry away so long. You know, he doesn't even ring regularly. I feel trapped out there with no-one to give me what are really the basics in life. And nobody to share the nice things I have to offer either. I keep asking what shell of a life I'm living."

Jane dropped her eyes. "God, I felt almost that exact thought in the first few months after Brett died", she said, adding. "I felt so absolutely gutted." She paused. "But I'm handling it better now", she added with a bashful smile. "A good sign is I'm starting to get these small cravings for sex. That's a feeling I thought had disappeared for good after his death."

"Aha, we're onto sex". Angie asked good-naturedly, her eyes twinkling in Hayley's lap. She looked directly up at Hayley. "We're all friends here, Hayley. Tell the truth. How do you cope when Garry's away?"

Jane glared at Angie as she saw her friend's expression cloud and her gaze drop to her wine glass. She could have killed Angie there and then. Unknowingly, she'd ruined all the patient effort Jane had made to keep her positive.

"Not well at all", eventually came Hayley's quiet answer. They all fell silent.

Jane shook her head at Angie who ignored her and kept staring at Hayley, waiting for her answer. She feared Hayley was slipping back again into her gloom. Her friend seemed to be miles away, and her free hand had stopped its idle stroking through Angie's short blonde hair.

Jane was surprised as the morose look on Hayley's moody face slowly began to clear. She heard her best friend begin hesitantly, slowly. "I'd always dreamed of enjoying the whole lovemaking bliss thing. That first inviting kiss. Being held, kissed, undressed, stroked. Becoming slowly aroused until it's almost unbearable. Garry definitely has his faults in these departments." She looked at Jane in panic at the mention of her brother. "But I wouldn't dream of sneaking behind his back and being unfaithful with another guy." she reassured. She stopped there and began to grin. "Hey, wait! I'm hogging this with my self-pity, surely. What about you two? How are you coping?".

"Me?" Jane half-volunteered as they both stared at her before proceeding. "I'm still not at the stage where I can face men as yet. I get by going solo, if you get my drift," she shyly added. She thought briefly about a sensual moment shared with Brett before his decline into ill-health, then put the fond memory away.

"Going solo doesn't work satisfactorily for me", Angie admitted. "Lately, I just seem to be always going without." She shrugged her shoulders philosophically. "Holidays like this aside, I am usually too flat out to meet any nice girls let alone enjoy the thrill of the chase before catching and fucking them."

Jane noticed Hayley's expression stiffen at both that word and the candid admission from Angie. Whoops! She should have forewarned Angie about Hayley's personal modesty and her dislike of swearing. And also have warned her best friend about Angie's candidness about her sexuality.

"Well, it's late. I'm off to bed I'm afraid", Angie said, easing herself up. She bent forward and gave Jane a kiss on the cheek. Turning, she slowly moved her face to Hayley's and kissed her lightly on the lips, teasingly letting her lips linger. Jane could see Hayley's eyes widen in surprise before Angie broke contact, an impish look all over her face.

Jane turned to Hayley after Angie disappeared. "She does that a lot with girls the first time. Just to shock them I suspect. I panicked the first time she did it to me, and she's never tried since. You handled it much, much better than I did. So, practical joking aside, what's your overall impression of our Angie?"

"She's stunningly beautiful, isn't she? And so personable", Hayley conceded though still looking a little miffed by the last act.

"You two just got on so famously. I can tell she really likes you", Jane smiled.

She noticed Hayley starting to blush, and realised how her words could be taken.

"Sorry," she gushed. "I meant in the platonic sense of course. And I should have filled you in more about Angie. She apparently has been a bit of a wild one sexually in her past. Not only from her own account, but from various stories from others."

"Where did you meet her?" Hayley asked.

"In the hospital when Brett was in his last hours. She stayed long after her shift was finished after he'd died and helped me though hell in the next four hours. She's just here in her holidays just while her unit is being painted", she explained.

"I like her. You're absolutely sure she's a lesbian?" the hesitant question came.

"Very sure! I'll tell you a story. I'm no lesbian as far as anyone can ever tell. But a girl who cheerfully admitted to being bedded by her described it as easily the best night of sex she had ever experienced. One thing she described in graphic detail that Angie did to her even made heterosexual me a little hot under the collar. But I honestly feel a bit sad when someone as beautiful and as friendly as her comes out and admits she's all alone", Jane answered.

"We're a miserable trio, aren't we", Hayley mused. "All of us in the prime of our lives, but nobody enjoying any real intimacy. I guess it's harder for Angie, though. You know, trying to meet girls like herself amongst all us females out there".

Jane nodded empathetically and looked over. "Are you still okay about sharing the guest room with her?" she enquired. "You could come and sleep with me if you're at all concerned, you know."

"No. It's not like she's an axe murderer. In fact, I reckon your right about what you said. She'll be excellent company for the next three days," Hayley reassured her. "Don't worry. I can look after myself. I'm a big girl. Twenty eight, married and all, remember."

Yawning, Jane said good night as Hayley excused herself. "Okay, I'll make sure I kiss you on the cheek though," she smirked, making them both giggle.

Jane finished tidying up. There was enough light coming from the guest room to switch off the hall light and make her way past it to her own room. She tiptoed past their half-open door. They were obviously still up, talking animatedly in the low light. Hearing her name mentioned in passing, she glanced in.

Hayley was sitting at the head of Angie's double bed with her back to Jane, nightie on one knee, re-living some memories of Jane and her in their earlier years, including some that Jane realised she had forgotten. Angie was propped up on her pillows, bare skin above the white sheet tucked under her armpits, fully engrossed. A neglected book lay open and face-down in her lap.

In the bedside mirror, Jane could see friend's face as she reminisced. Its glow signalled that her friend's vitality was on its way back. She heard Angie ask how she ended going out with Jane's brother. Putting her nightie beside Angie, Hayley stood as she started the story. Modestly turning her back to Angie, she lifted her T-shirt over her head. She continued to tell the story, flicking the garment from above her head to land near her suitcase. Her fingers worked at the side of her mini before, with one wriggle, it slid down her long legs where an expert flick of the toes saw it join the T-shirt.

As Angie listened, she was watching Hayley reach behind her back with both hands and unclipped her bra. Picking up the nightie, Angie passed it around Hayley's side with an outstretched palm as the narrative was finishing up.

Jane was surprised to realise she was seeing her friend's jutting breasts for the first time ever before the nightie was hastily slipped over them. Hayley had such prominent puffy nipples that were an amazing pale cherry pink. So that was why she was so inhibited about showing them on the beach when they were all younger.

She saw Hayley's head turn to check if Angie was still looking. In the silence, the blonde woman had picked her book up again. Reaching up under each side of the short nightie, Hayley half-slid, half-rolled her briefs down before deftly kicking them to heap by the suitcase as well. She pulled back the blanket on her bed, opting for just a sheet for the hot night ahead. Jane was about to move on when she heard the silence broken.

"How hard is it for you to meet girls, Angie?" Hayley had bravely asked.

A curious Jane paused, wondering about the answer herself. Angie looked up at her from the book, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Lately? If it's just a fuck I was after, it probably wouldn't be that hard," she began." Any lesbian bar or nightclub would throw up someone. As you get older though, you get a bit more discerning. You find yourself looking at the genuinely nice ones, a lot of whom you can tell are totally straight though you hope some might be bi-curious," came the reply.

"You can tell if a girl's straight?" a surprised Hayley asked, easing back onto the side of Angie's bed again.

"Can you tell if they're gay?" Angie retorted, smiling.

"Only if it's really, really obvious", Hayley admitted, adding. "I wouldn't have guessed you were, for example. How soon though can you rule someone out as straight?"

"From the very first attempt to kiss them", Angie replied. "Straight girls usually recoil when a relative stranger does that, even if they're tipsy. Sometimes with a degree of disgust I might add."