“It’s not foolproof.” She said. “It took me a long time to figure you out. But then one afternoon you suddenly made sense to me.”
“I did?” I asked.
“Yes.” She said. “I think I can make some pretty good guesses about you Gabriella.”
“Guesses?” I asked. “Or do you actually know something?”
I felt hot and unsettled, as if I might start crying at any moment, and I didn’t understand why.
“I don’t know for sure.” She said. “But I suspect very much that you are a lot like me.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever spent time with someone who’s a lot like me.” I said. “At least not in the way we’re talking about.”
“Gabriella.” She said softly. “I know that you’re attracted to girls. Believe me I really do understand that. You saw me on the porch that night. I think you and I want the same things. In the same ways. For some of the same reasons.”
I nodded my head while staring at the lake, afraid to look at her. I suddenly felt tears burn in my eyes and that angered me. I wanted her to think of me as a woman, instead of as an inexperienced and scared nineteen-year-old girl.
“What do you think I want?” I asked softly.
I drank the last of my water, trying to clear the sudden quiver out of my voice.
“I think it’s more about what you need.” She said. “I think need and want are the same for you. And I think you need things that so far, you’ve only imagined. And some things you haven’t even dared to imagine.”
I looked over at her across the porch, my throat dry and my palms sweaty.
“Do you know what those things are?” I asked softly.
“I do.” She said. “I know what they are, and I know how much you lust after them. Believe me girl, I know.”
“Do you know where I can find them?” I asked her.
She got up and moved next to me, sitting down with barely an inch left between us.
“Yes.” She said. “If you want to seek them out.”
I looked at her, and as rain started to gently hit the roof of the porch, I couldn’t be entirely sure, but her eyes seemed to be daring me to ask the next question.
“I do want them.” I said softly. “Where do I look?”
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
My head was spinning.
I had spent lots of time with her over the years. But always as the mother of one of my friends. As I’d gotten older, we’d gotten friendlier of course, but she’d always been ‘Mrs. Foster’ to me.
Now suddenly she was Izzy. A real person who was boldly challenging me to do something that both frightened and intrigued me.
I was suddenly struck with the certainty that if I took a chance, I’d discover what she was offering, and could decide if I wanted it then.
I was equally certain that if I turned away from this opportunity, I would regret it every day until I died.
“I do.” I said quietly. “I trust you. Izzy.”
“Completely?” she asked me.
“Yes.” I said, though I wasn’t entirely sure.
She stared at me, from inches away, as if considering what I’d said.
“What I’m offering you is a chance to experience pleasure Gabriella.” She said.
As if for emphasis there was a loud rumble of thunder in the distance.
“And not just ordinary pleasure.” She continued. “Romantic pleasure. Emotional pleasure. And sexual. A complete and total sexual pleasure, along with sexual power and energy that will change your life. Forever. Are you ready for that?”