Euphoria ~ z.m.

CHAPTER FIVE - INTIMATE CONVERSATIONS - PART ONE

Édith was glaring at Yvonne. Although searing holes into her best friends face was probably more akin to describing her deeply reproachful gaze.

Édith had visibly blanched when the realization had graced her best friend's face - it was an expression she encountered too often recently. Indeed, it emulated an ecstatic, naughty feeling complete with devilish and wicked tendencies - that were somehow amplified by the pregnancy. This grimy grin had often led Yvonne to profoundly - and futilely- jokingly embarrass her dear friend just as she had earlier.

Indeed earlier, in an attempt to diffuse Yve's anticipated remark, Édith had rushed out, "Didn't you want to show me your new book?"

"What new book?" Yvonne had responded innocently.

Irritation had tingled Édith's body. "Never mind that, I -" She was cut off.

"No," she said slowly, "I think-" she elongated the syllables, "I think we should discuss the fact that Zavy's hand was wandering down your pants." Yve paused to add dramatic flare to her little humiliation game, "And Édith you loved it, you had an orgasm right in front of us. I could tell-"

She could not believe she had let Yve ramble on for so long, "I," Édith's voice rung loudly cutting off the embarrassing speech, "don't know what you are talking about. Zavier kens better than that!" She paused her nostrils flaring. She then proceeded to ceremoniously remove Zavier's arm from the back of her pants, provoking Zavier and Olivier's laughter. Then, "You should hold your tongue," she hissed looking pointedly at Yve.

"I am just poking fun, you're engaged and romantic and sexy as hell," she swooned sweetly - Yvonne was never sweet. "Tonight could be -" indeed, Yvonne was devilish.

"No!" They all laughed. Édith finally resulted in forcefully taking charge of Yve's pigheadedness and proceeded to drag her out of the room, with barely more than a later thrown at the lads.

"You've gotta stop with that Outlander stuff." Zavier called out behind them. "Look no further, the real Scottish prize is right here an' I come w' a braw package too. I can prove it, I'm a braw lad and hung like a horse." He shouted after them, "I've got a round bahookie too!"

Back in the library, Édith was still burrowing holes into the side of Yve's smooth, brown skin. Meanwhile Yve was obliviously and intensely focusing on the book that she gripped in her hand. Her eyes were already scurrying through the first few pages of Outlander; her excitement was palpable.

"Tu sais que c'est la première fois qu'on regarde une série avant d'avoir lu les livres? Tu trouves pas ça un peu fou! Mais a priori les réalisateurs ont travaillé avec Diana Gabaldon donc franchement ça devrait bien se passer..." She trailed off her voice resonating into the hostile room. She looked up at her friend in amusement, then swiftly back down at the book. Édith would speak when she was ready.

Silence filled the silence.

Yve stood waiting.

Édith sat glaring.

Édith grimaced. Her gaze had gone from contemptuous, to resigned, to frustrated and finally to quizzical. "Look Yve, I - well - I'm extremely horny and I think I'm gonna try and seduce Zavier tonight." She paused. She seemed to be searching for words. "Which sounds... weird, but it feels right... kind of like the natural transition to everything. I know I don't want to be with anyone else, and I have the ring so my parents won't freak out if I accidentally get a baby."

Yvonne laughed and laughed. She walked over to join Édith in front of the hearty, burning artificial fireplace, and proceeded to sprawl herself elegantly on the chaise longue. "First of all no one accidentally gets a baby - you mean accidentally get pregnant. And in either case your mother will throw a fit when she finds out how uninnocent you and Zavier have been whether you have sex or not. Nothing will redeem the lot of you except your actual marriage."

They laughed lightly mocking Édith's mother's legendary overreactions.

"Second of all, I have been waiting forever for this to happen!"

"Yes, I know, I don't understand why that is."

Yve spoke indignantly, "Because your pleasure is mine?" Her features twisted in confusion, amusement & embarrassment. The two women snickered. "That's not exactly what I meant. Rather you're my sister - when you're happy I am too, and when I discover something I love and enjoy, I always want to share it with you, just like sex! To experience losing yourself so completely that your legs shake and your heart bursts, plus there's someone there eager to help you achieve this feeling, it's... inexplicable. It's just you and the pleasure and the elation and the Euphoria. And you can go fast or slow, you can have fun with it and be crazy with it. And you'll feel closer to Zavier," she paused, "in ways - not to be cheesy - that you didn't think were possible."

Their amusement had died down. Yvonne's gaze went far away - clouded by intricate pockets of love and intimacy, "Olivier and I, between us-"

Édith interjected softly "You don't have to, you know. There are things that are possibly too lovely to share; even between soulmates like you and I." She laughed lightly.

A faint smile graced Yvonne's face, she placed a hand on her protruding baby bump as if in reassurance, "People say relationships should be built on a solid, unwavering foundation. They also say that this foundation can only constitute friendship, common interests, respect and -well, whatever else. But Oli and I every facet of our romance is built upon our physical connection."

She continued speaking for some time. Yvonne revealed to her longtime friend quite literally a fiber of her soul, all while opening a window into the world of intimacy. A window that, thus far, had been just barely cracked open within Zavy & Édith's amour.

Yvonne concluded, "Sex is how we find our way back to each other time and again, its pleasure, love, healing and intimacy all in one."

Édith, while attentively and intensely listening to the heartfelt revelation, had turned the swiveling, tub armchair to face the fireplace. Her eyes shone.