As Joey got out of the car, she was struck again by the heat of the day, while driving she"d had the air conditioning on full so hadn"t been able to fully appreciate how hot it was, but now a warm breeze blew over her face.

"I bet it"s not this hot in the fall in Russia," said Joey.

"No, in St. Petersburg it can be very cold at this time of year."

Joey helped Natalya with her expensive looking snakeskin suitcases and unlocked the door into the stylish, expensively decorated entrance hall to the Stiller house.

"Come on, I"ll show you your room," Joey said, carrying one of Natalya"s bags upstairs.

Clearly Natalya was unused to to carrying her own stuff as she struggled up the stairs with a relatively small bag as Joey showed her into the spare bedroom.

"OK, I"ll let you unpack and get settled," Joey told Natalya, leaving the room, "I"ll just be downstairs."

Joey went into the living room and opened a couple of windows and was just sitting down and reaching for the TV remote when the phone rang.

"Hi Joey," came the faintly squeaky voice of Joey"s free spirited best friend Hannah Monroe.

"Hiya Hannah, how"s things?"

"Fine, your Russian arrived yet?"

"Yeah she"s just upstairs unpacking,"

"Are you sure you trust her alone?" Hannah said laughing, Joey had told her friend about her silly worries and Hannah"s laughing at it now made Joey feel a lot better.

"I"m sure it"s fine, her parents are like millionaires or something," Joey replied, "She"s got a mansion and servants and everything."

Joey and Hannah chatted happily for a while. Joey was pleased to be able to unload all her worries and private thoughts to her friend who lived on the other side of the country in Boston since Joey"s family had moved to California. Hannah would call Joey up most weeks and they could chat for a while like old times.

"Listen, I"d better go," said Hannah after about twenty minutes, "My parents don"t like me using the phone bill for these long distance calls."

Joey hung up and, not for the first time, felt a pang of regret that her best friend was so far away and they were reduced to a weekly twenty minutes on the phone. Back east Joey and Hannah had spent almost every waking minute together since they were twelve and Joey had never felt lonely or alone then as she often did now in her isolated house in River Falls. To comfort herself Joey flicked on the TV onto MTV, a Madonna video was blaring out as Joey heard Natalya come down the stairs and into the room.

The first thing Joey noticed was that Natalya had changed her clothes. The designer sunglasses were gone and now her black hair was tied back from her white face. She was now wearing a flimsy floral print summer dress which still allowed Joey to see all of her smooth pale legs, and flat pink sandals. When Natalya came and sat beside Joey on the couch conversation didn"t exactly flow.

"Who"s that?" asked Natalya

"Madonna," Joey replied, a little surprised that Natalya wouldn"t be aware of this.

"No," said Natalya, pointing, "him."

The living room looked out onto the Stiller"s yard and swimming pool. There were large glass double doors with one way windows which allowed people in the living room to look out without those outside looking in. Despite the heat Joey hadn"t opened the doors and they remained locked. Natalya was pointing to where, in the yard, Luke the pool guy had come to clean the Stillers" pool.

"Oh, he cleans our swimming pool," explained Joey.

Natalya licked her lips at the sight of Luke and Joey had to admit that Luke was a kind of hunky guy. He was twenty five and had a strong muscular physique with messy dark hair and stubble that gave him a hunky rebellious look. Because of the heat of the day his brow was dotted with sweat, as was his bare muscular back as the heat had caused him to dress in nothing more than a little pair of shorts. Joey felt herself caught up in staring at Luke"s muscular toned body, but at a gasp from Natalya she turned round.

Natalya sat back in the sofa, her eyes focussed on Luke"s body. Her summer dress was pulled up even further so Joey could see the red lace panties below. Joey was shocked to see Natalya"s pale hand inside her panties, furiously rubbing her pussy. She let out another gasp of pleasure. Joey stared speechless before,

"What are you doing?" she asked incredulously.

Natalya glanced over briefly as if she"d only just remembered Joey was still there.

"Come on Joey, it"s fun. You could do it too and nobody would know."

Joey"s eyes widened in surprise at this, but still she found herself unwittingly feeling very aroused, both by the sight of the pool boy"s hot sweaty body and the sexy Russian on her sofa. As if not fully in control of her own movements she sat beside Natalya and, before she fully realised what she was doing, she had unbuttoned her jeans and her own hand was stuck inside her panties. Her fingers slid easily into her pussy, already dripping wet with her arousal, and she began to frig her own cunt in time with Natalya.

Both girls sat side by side on the couch, eyes focused on the sexy pool cleaner outside, enthusiastically masturbating. It was the Russian girl who came first, Natalya threw back her head, let out a little scream and filled her lace panties with her juices. At the sound of Natalya"s orgasm Joey couldn"t hold herself in any longer and felt her body convulse with pleasure as she came into her own panties. Natalya looked across and smiled reassuringly at Joey.

"You see Joey, that was fun, don"t you think?"

***

This strange act of voyeurism and communal masturbation seemed to lighten things up a little between Joey and Natalya, and Joey was pleased to notice the change in their relationship. Natalya never brought up the incident in conversation again or suggested that they do it again and Joey began to just put it out of her mind.

For whatever reason, after this Natalya treated her American host less like a servant and more like a friend. Joey discovered that Natalya, although still a little arrogant and haughty, had a wicked sense of humour and Joey often found herself laughing out loud at some characteristic she"d never even noticed before about some of the people of River Falls.

Joey discovered that she and Natalya had a lot more in common than she"d first feared. Both girls enjoyed to shop with a passion and Joey spent hours going round shops with her Russian guest. Joey was impressed at how Natalya didn"t seem to think anything about spending any amount of money on expensive designer clothes and jewellery, while Joey herself spent ages pondering over whether to spend her money or not. Here Joey discovered another good point about her Russian friend, Natalya wasn"t just relaxed about spending money on herself but could be very generous with it too.

The day after Natalya arrived was a Sunday and Joey drove herself and the Russian into San Diego to go shopping. It was on that day that Joey discovered both their shared passion for shopping and her new friend"s generosity. The first shop the girls headed for, at Natalya"s request, was a very expensive clothes store that Joey had never been in, it didn"t exactly cater for her usual jeans and T-shirt style wardrobe. However, stylish Natalya wanted to go in and Joey felt there was no harm in trying out what she would look like in some of these fancy clothes.

If anything, this October Sunday was even hotter than the day before and Joey"s clothes clung sweatily to her body. She was wearing a powder blue vest and denim cutoffs that left her arms and legs bare in the bright hot sun. It probably wasn"t the sort of outfit people who shop here normally wore, Joey thought as she stepped into the store and was relieved by the cool blast of air conditioning blowing against her bare legs. Joey let out a sigh as the cool air brushed against her skin and looked across at Natalya, grinning.

Natalya turned and flashed her teeth, as white as her pale skin, back at Joey. She was dressed far more appropriately for somewhere like this in a black halterneck dress whose plunging neckline showed off the curve of the Russian"s rounded breasts. Her legs were, like Joey"s, bare in the hot sun because of the dress" short skirt. She wore the same black sandals as the day before and Joey could see her toenails painted a sensual scarlet colour. Her designer sunglasses were also the same as before and, as they walked into the store, she once again pushed them back onto her forehead. Despite Natalya"s immaculate appearance Joey could tell the heat was getting to her, beads of perspiration dripped off her pale forehead and often she would fan herself with her hand.

"I think this would suit you very well, Joey," she said, holding up a pink top with three quarter length sleeves that laced across the bodice, it wasn"t the sort of thing Joey would normally wear but she decided to try it anyway.

Natalya came over with her to the fitting room and came in with her. Joey thought perhaps this was a little forward, but then they were friends. Besides, Joey reminded herself, the other girl was from a different country and maybe they did things differently there.

Joey turned her back from Natalya and pulled the blue vest over her head and put it down on the floor of the fitting room. Joey was now dressed in just her short cut-offs and a plain white bra and, despite the heat, she felt conspicuously cold and naked, especially standing like this in front of a girl she"d only met the day before. She felt a little comforted about her semi-naked body when she turned round and Natalya smiled at her.

"You know Joey," Natalya said, placing a hand on Joey"s smooth bare shoulder, "You have very nice breasts, you should not keep them so covered up."

Joey felt oddly comforted by the closeness and re-assuringly light touch of the Russian girl and she smiled her attractive grin back at Natalya. Natalya held out the pink top for her friend and Joey slipped her arms into the pleasantly thin nylon. Natalaya loosely tied the laces across Joey"s chest and once again, unseen by her Russian friend, Joey allowed herself to smile at the close, gentle touch of the other girl.

Turning to look at herself in the fitting room"s mirror, Joey had to admit to being impressed by how the top looked on her. The pink was a dark, almost maroon, colour and it went well with the mousy brown of her hair and the colour of her freckled, slightly tanned skin. It clung to her figure far more tightly than what she normally wore, in a way that Joey thought made her body look more curved. But, most significantly, across her chest, where Natalya had loosely tied the laces, the size of her breasts was far more apparent in the way they jutted out from her body, despite the heat firm and erect. The laced neckline of the top gave her a cleavage that she was proud to think put Natalya"s to shame.

"You see, Joey," Natalya said, "You have nice breasts and you should be showing them to the world."

Joey was certainly very pleased with the top and seriously considering buying it as she stripped out of it and put her powder blue vest back on. That was, until she saw the price tag.

"$120!" she shouted incredulously, realising why she never shopped in places like this, she shrugged to Natalya, "It"s nice but I really can"t afford anything like this."

"Do not worry Joey, I will buy it for you."

Joey was a little taken aback by this offer, "Oh no," she said, "I couldn"t let you spend so much on me."

Natalya smiled, "It is my father"s money, Joey, he doesn"t care how much I spend. Anyway I want to thank you for being so welcoming for me in your country."

Joey tried her best to argue Natalya out of it, but deep down she knew she really wanted that top and was quite pleased when Natalya refused to be convinced out of buying it. Natalya went to pay for the top with a shiny gold credit card and Joey felt a twinge of envy that Natalya"s father gave her all the money she wanted while her own father gave her less than a lot of the other kids at school. However, Joey quickly supressed this envy when Natalya turned to her, grinning, and handed her the bag containing the top. Joey smiled back and then surprised even herself by throwing her arms around Natalya and kissing her on her smooth white cheek. For a fleeting moment their bodies pressed together, Joey"s breasts pressed into her Russian friend"s body before they broke away and turned out of the shop and into the rest of the pristine white shopping mall.

***

Throughout that day there was no mention from either girl of the incident that had occurred watching the pool boy. Although embarrassed by it, Joey was, at the same time, quite pleased that it had happened as it had been a surprisingly perfect ice breaker for her and Natalya, and now Joey felt she had a special bond with her new friend.

On Monday, Joey, dressed in her new cleavaged pink top, took Natalya into school with her. Before the bell rang and ushered them into their respective classes Joey took the opportunity to introduce the Russian exchange student around her friends. Joey had been new to the school fairly recently and, although well liked generally, had no really close friends. The group she gravitated towards to introduce Natalya to was a group of four or five people who"d joined the school around the same time as her, that was their only real similarity and they were quite different people really.

"Wow! Your breasts . . ." was the first thing Claire Lancaster said to Joey that morning, not thinking of any way to finish the sentence.

Claire was only sometimes part of Joey"s group. On arriving in River Falls she had quickly decided to join the cheerleading squad and, as a result, was a part of their elite, privileged and popular group as well. Joey didn"t really like Claire very much, she was very loud and brash and often unaware of whether people were offended or hurt by things she did. She wasn"t intentionally a bad person but Joey didn"t like her much anyway. Joey was also slightly jealous of Claire"s blonde, all-American cheerleader looks. However, despite being tall and blonde, Claire was not, in fact, particularly attractive, she was very thin and bony, with quite small breasts and a thin, pointed face.

Joey didn"t really know what to say to Claire"s opening comment so she just turned to the group in general and introduced Natalya. Her introduction was met with a set of "hi"s, "hello"s and "pleased to meet you"s from the others, but little else. As the bell rang, sporadic conversations sprung up as they walked into the imposing building of River Falls High School.

"Is that top new?" said Katharine Taylor, still looking at Joey"s breasts.

Katharine was probably the one person at River Falls that she could really see herself being good friends with. She was barely over five foot tall and people often mistook her for someone about fifteen or sixteen. She had a bit of a tendency to drift off into thinking about other things in class, but was a genuinely nice and caring person. So far, Joey hadn"t really succeeded in becoming good friends with Katharine but they were still able to have the occasional friendly chat.

"Yeah, it cost $120," Joey replied, holding the large door open for Natalya behind her, Katharine stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened in surprise.

"How can even you afford that, Stiller?" this wasn"t from Katharine who was temporarily struck dumb, but from Robbie Biaggi, the only guy in Joey"s group.

Robbie"s family had moved to River Falls from New York at the same time as Joey"s had moved from Boston and Joey was well aware that Robbie had had a crush on her since they started at River Falls High on the same day, but the idea of getting together with Robbie almost made Joey laugh out loud. Robbie was a nice enough guy but Joey hoped for more than his greasy black hair, thick rimmed glasses and the huge braces on his teeth. He walked in an odd loping fashion that also put Joey off a bit. In all, Robbie was blessed with a classic geeky appearance, but, despite all the hints that she"d dropped, Joey couldn"t get him to stop being interested in her. By now it kind of flattered her and she realised that Robbie wasn"t doing any harm, in fact she could often take advantage of his willingness to do anything for her.

"Natalya bought it for me in San Diego, she"s even richer than I am," Joey laughed, turning to Katharine with a smile, but Katharine was no longer paying any attention to the conversation.

Robbie seemed to notice Natalya for the first time and Joey could see the look in his eyes, it was the same look that he often reserved for her. Joey smiled inwardly at the thought that Robbie could transfer his affections so easily and at the thought that Natalya would have to deal with him now.

True to her word, that lunch break Joey took Natalya and introduced her to the guys from the football team who they"d seen in the park on the day that Natalya arrived. Joey noticed with a smile that, as they left the building, Robbie"s awkward steps fell in with hers and Natalya"s. Seniors at River Falls had the opportunity to leave the school during their lunch break and, at least while the unseasonal warmth held out, most people tended to hang out in the park. Joey knew this was where they would find Brock Stewart and his friends, probably throwing around the same football as before.

Sure enough, beneath the glare of the mid-day sun, Joey could make out the shapes of three figures and a small round shape flying between them, this time not a football but a luminous orange frisbee. Around them sat, in the necessary shade of the trees, a number of groups of people just lounging in the sun, some of them making use of their lunch break to eat some lunch but not many. As they approached, Joey waved to Katharine, sitting dwarfed by a huge tree. She didn"t wave back, her attention was elsewhere and, following her gaze, Joey saw that Katharine"s eyes were fixed on the clowning of Chris Hudson as he twisted his body in an attempt to catch the frisbee between his legs, succeeding only in tripping and completely missing the catch.

Joey pitied Katharine for a moment, she"d have to wait her turn for Chris. There were a number of girls at the school who"d had their hearts broken by his tanned, surfer looks, and matted blond dreadlocks. With the guys he was known to be a bit of a clown and was always involved in some sort of trouble in lessons, however Joey was aware that he had a very different relationship with girls and she knew Katharine"s wouldn"t be the only eyes on his elastic limbed performance. For some reason, possibly her diminutive stature, Joey felt a little protective of Katharine and had often warned her to look for other guys, it didn"t seem to have worked.

Joey"s own eyes, however, were drawn to another of the frisbee throwers. Greg Grant pushed his floppy brown hair out of his eyes and gave Joey a brief lopsided grin as she walked into the park. If she could just shake off Robbie then Greg was the sort of guy she"d go for.

"Hey Robbie, Joey," Greg grinned at them, "Hey, nice outfit, Joey."

Joey flushed red, but Greg didn"t notice as, after this throwaway compliment, he turned to talk to Robbie. That was the odd thing about the two guys in her life, often when together, they"d pay more attention to each other than to her. Greg was failing in French and had got Robbie to tutor him. As a result, the two of them had discovered a shared passion for re-vamping old cars, which Joey couldn"t understand at all.

"Hey, Grant, get back in the game," came Brock"s shout. He was waving the luminous orange disc at Greg, as had been the case on Sunday, his muscles stood out and rippled and, although he was now topless in the heat, the vest he"d worn before was obvious in the difference between the tan of his arms and chest.

"Hey guys," said Joey, waving briefly to attract their attention, "I"d just like to introduce you to Natalya, she"d gonna be staying with me for a couple of weeks."

Robbie was no longer engaged in a discussion of engines with Greg and had turned back to Natalya, his mouth hanging open to show the metal across his teeth. Chris came elastically jogging over to meet the gorgeous, pale skinned Russian. Joey turned to see Brock give a sigh and put the frisbee down on the yellowing grass with an exaggerated gesture, as if to show his weary acceptance that the game was over, and came over as well. Brock, Chris and Robbie now crowded around the immaculately dressed Russian girl whose designer sunglasses concealed any thoughts that her dark eyes may have revealed as the three guys took her by the arms and led her over to the shade of another tree. Or, at least Brock and Chris took her over to the tree, while Robbie loped after them, tolerated because he offered no threat to their dominance.

Finally given her moment alone with Greg, Joey turned to talk to him, for a moment seeing a cold look of jealousy in Katharine"s caring eyes as she stared at the attention Chris lavished on Natalya. That look of jealousy would find itself in Joey"s deep green eyes moments later as she saw the tall bony figure of Claire Lancaster draped over Greg"s arm. Claire, fortunately, was too wrapped up in herself (and Greg) to notice but Joey felt herself flush red again, this time with anger.

"Are you alright Joey?" Greg, of course noticed.

"Of course, she"s fine," Claire re-assured him in her brash loud voice, "Arent you, Jo?" Joey hated to be called Jo, and Claire knew it.

"It"s just the sun," Joey mumbled, "I think I"ll go sit in the shade."

As she went over to sit with Katharine she felt annoyed by the whole situation, she didn"t know what relaxed, calm Greg saw in loud Claire and that annoyed her. Normally she could take comfort in Robbie"s continued devotion to her (although she was aware of the similarity between Greg"s rejection of her and her attitude to Robbie) but he was obssessing over Natalya, and that annoyed her too. Natalya coming in and instantly drawing all the attention of River Falls" men where Joey had failed for far longer annoyed her as well and, looking at Katharine, Joey saw she wasn"t alone in this feeling.

"Your American guys certainly are very pushy, Joey," Natalya said to her as Joey drove them back to her house after school, "I have been given five telephone numbers today," she laughed and waved the paper with the numbers on at Joey.

Joey laughed too, her anger and jealousy of earlier had gone by now, the enjoyment that she got from Natalya"s company, although the Russian girl could still be a little superior, made up for the attention guys lavished on her.

"I think your new outfit was noticed too," Natalya continued, "Your Greg seemed to like it."

"Not as much as he liked Claire," Joey said, slightly sulky, not wanting to talk about it, but grateful to her friend for making the effort to care, "Are you going to use any of those numbers?" she said, trying to change the subject.

Natalya laughed again, "They are just silly little boys," she said, screwing up the piece of paper and dropping it out of the open car window.

Joey smiled for a moment, although Natalya seemed to enjoy the attention, she didn"t really care about any of the guys, it seemed to Joey that Natalya considered Robbie on the same level as she did Brock. Joey thought that, although the Russian girl had accurately uncovered Joey"s taste, she had no idea what kind of guys Natalya went for, except Luke the pool guy, but that wasn"t mentioned for the rest of the week . . .

***

It was Saturday, and the weather continued in its unseasonal heat wave, if anything this Saturday was even hotter than the one before. Natalya had now been staying with Joey for a week and Joey now wondered how she had ever managed the dull evenings alone before Natalya. They had a lot of fun together, watching movies or just sitting and chatting. At school Natalya continued to laughingly enjoy the attentions of most of the guys, especially Robbie who followed her everywhere, which Natalya also just laughed about. She"d flirt a little with most of the guys but never anything more. Joey"s parents were to return that evening from their latest business trip and Joey and Natalya enjoyed their last day of having the house to themselves by swimming in the Stiller"s pool and afterwards lounging beside it, drying off and getting a tan, although Natalya"s white skin, despite days in the sun, was just as pale as when she arrived.

Once again Natalya wore her sunglasses and Joey wondered for a moment if she ever took them off. Aside from this she wore nothing but a stylish black bikini which contrasted with her pale skin so that Joey had to admit she saw what all the guys in River Falls were attracted to in this exotic Russian.

They lay there in the sun, not speaking, for what seemed like hours. Joey could feel her skin burning up a little. Natalya was obviously thinking the same thing as she turned to look at Joey:

"Do you have any sun cream Joey?" she smiled, her teeth as perfectly white as her skin.

Joey walked over to the living room and found a half full tube of sun cream which she brought out into the garden. She squeezed the tube between her fingers and some of the thick, white lotion spurted out over her hands. Natalya turned her back to Joey and lifted her jet black hair to show her back and long neck. Walking over, Joey began to gently rub the white lotion across her friend"s back, running her hands over the pale, unblemished, perfect skin of Natalya"s shoulders. Natalya turned and smiled at her, taking the tube of sun cream from Joey she turned to face Joey"s back. Gently she untied the bow that tied the back of Joey"s pink bikini top to bare all of Joey"s back. Joey gasped for a moment as the cold lotion made contact with her hot, sun kissed back, but then gave a sigh of appreciation over the gentle touch of Natalya as she slowly rubbed the lotion over Joey"s back.

Joey felt almost as if the Russian girl was giving her an expensive massage such was the feel of Natalya"s soft touch across her shoulders, Joey lost herself to her fantasies as Natalya"s pale, well manicured hands brushed across her back. Joey licked her lips with the pleasure of her fantasies but was brought out of it with a start as Natalya said:

"There you are Joey, you"re ok now."

Joey was about to lie back down in the sun when both girls heard the sound of the gate as Luke arrived again to clean the pool. Suddenly, Natalya grabbed Joey by the arm and dragged her quickly into the living room, shutting the big one-way glass doors. Some instinct inside her made Joey lock the doors as Natalya stood looking out at at Luke, once again sweaty and topless, come into the Stillers" yard.

As the two girls stood staring out the window, Joey saw Natalya"s hand reach down and heard a sigh of pleasure which she assumed came from Natalya"s mouth and only a realised after a few seconds that it came from her. Looking down, she was slightly surprised to see Natalya"s right hand was not inside her own bikini bottoms, but Joey"s. Joey opened her mouth, intending to say something questioning about this but all that came out was a moan of pleasure as Natalya inserted first one, then two of her perfect slender fingers into Joey"s pussy which was already surprisingly dripping wet.

As Natalya expertly and skilfully stimulated Joey"s pussy, Joey felt her own hand, almost independent of any will of Joey"s, feel its way across the soft white skin of Natalya"s midriff. Both girls" eyes were still glued to the sweaty, muscular form of the pool cleaner outside and Joey found her way across Natalya"s body by feel. She felt her way beneath the elastic waistband of Natalya"s bikini bottoms and slid her finger into the other girl"s wet, lubricated pussy. Without thinking about the strangeness of the situation, Joey began to frig Natalya"s pussy as if it were her own, whilst her own was equally well stimulated by the other girl, all the while both girls" attention was fully focused on Luke outside the one-way glass doors.

This time it was Joey who came first, the combined stimulation of her earlier fantasies, the sight of the hunky pool guy, and the stimulation of Natalya"s skilled attention to her pussy was too much for her and, with another deep moan of pleasure, she felt her knees buckle beneath her and her orgasm spread through her body. As she felt her body racing towards its climax, Joey"s own hand began to rub Natalya"s clit with a greater, more forceful urgency and, sure enough, moments later Joey heard a gasp from Natalya as the Russian girl filled her panties and soaked Joey"s fingers, which still lingered there, with her juices.

Finally, Joey removed her wet fingers from Natalya"s soaking pussy and turned away from Luke to look at the Russian. Natalya smiled encouragingly at her. As Joey had reached her climax she had bitten her lip again in the ecstasy of the moment, and now a drop of dark red blood appeared on her bottom lip as it had a week earlier at the airport.

"Joey, you are bleeding, didn"t I say you shouldn"t be biting your lip like that?" Natalya said.

Natalya leant towards her and Joey thought she was going to wipe the speck of blood from Joey"s lip. Instead, the Russian girl leant closer and, before Joey realised what she was doing, planted a brief kiss on her American host"s lips. Before Joey had a chance to react at all, Natalya had turned and headed for the door.

"I am going to get dressed before your parents come home," she said, perfectly naturally as if she was just going to change out of her bikini after sunbathing.

With that Natalya left the room and Joey heard her feet running lightly up the stairs, leaving Joey to muse on what had just happened. Joey could still sense the feel of Natalya"s soft lips as they pressed against hers for just a split second, as the Russian girl"s hand brushed across Joey"s shoulder and for that one enchanted moment their eyes met before Natalya turned to leave the room. The kiss had really shook Joey up, when Natalya had bought her the $120 top she"d kissed Natalya"s cheek and the contact here was little more than that, yet Joey stood there contemplating the moment, dressed just in her bikini in the living room, fo some time. Joey licked her lips, as if to savour the taste Natalya had left on them, then she too slowly left the room and went to change into a more acceptable outfit for her parents" return.

Joey was suddenly desperate to talk to Natalya privately, to say something about the kiss, to ask what it was for, what it meant to Natalya. However, as soon as Joey felt this urgent desire to talk to her, it seemed impossible to find a moment"s privacy with her Russian guest. For the last week they had spent hours alone together, but now, when Joey really felt she needed to talk to Natalya alone, they were suddenly denied that privacy. It was infuriating.

As it was, Natalya didn"t emerge from her room until Joey"s parents returned a little later. Joey, now changed into her denim cut-offs and a navy blue T-shirt, sat on the couch watching TV, her bare legs stretched out in front of her. She paid little attention to the images on screen as her mind was still racing. She didn"t here the front door close and was startled to look up and see her parents come into the room. Richard and Karen Stiller were dressed respectably in almost matching grey business suits, they looked so right together that Joey couldn"t imagine a time before they were a couple.

"Where"s Natalya?" Her mother asked as soon as the perfunctory small talk about their trip had been pushed aside.

"Oh, she"s just getting changed upstairs we, er, swam earlier."

With that the door swung open and Natalya herself entered the room. For the first time she was free of her favourite sunglasses and her jet black hair fell naturally to frame her snowy white face. She was dressed in an elegant and glamorous black velvet dress which was a total contrast to Joey"s outfit. The dress" low-cut neckline not only showed off her cleavage but also her long, swan-like neck. She smiled nervously at Joey"s parents and extended her hand to Joey"s father.

"Joey has told me lots about you," Natalya told them in her attractive foreign accent.

"All good things, I hope," Joey"s father laughed feebly at his own feeble joke.

Natalya"s appearance was very serious for a moment, "Of course, she is a very generous person."

They all ate dinner together that evening. It was rare for Joey"s mother to fit cooking into her busy schedule, however tonight she managed it and the results were excellent as, when she could be bothered, Karen Stiller was an excellent cook. Natalya, tonight the model of a charming and complimentary guest, was duly grateful and praising of the meal and seemed to enjoy being the centre of attention as Joey"s parents plied her with questions about her family and St. Petersburg. Joey herself was unusually quiet at the meal, lingering slowly over the food as she still thought she could feel the imprint of Natalya"s lips against hers. Natalya went to bed early that night so Joey continued to be unable to talk to her alone.

The next day, Joey"s parents insisted on driving Natalya out to show her the surrounding countryside so Joey was still unable to find a moment alone with her Russian friend. The scenery around River Falls was, admittedly, very beautiful. The valley through which the river flowed was filled with all kinds of lush vegetation, but today Joey couldn"t keep her mind on it. Instead, she kept trying to glance over at Natalya, to catch her eye, as if they could communicate wordlessly. But the Russian girl"s attention was constantly drawn to something outside the window of Joey"s father"s Mercedes.

That evening, Natalya excused herself and went to bed early again, and Joey, not really in the mood for conversation with her parents, decided to follow soon after. That night she had one of the most vivid dreams she had had in a long time. It started out familiarly as she turned into the park by the river where Greg Grant stood waiting for her. Greg gave her his lopsided smile and she walked towards him, it was a dream she"d had before. But as she walked closer, Joey saw that it wasn"t Greg that waited for her beneath a tree, but Natalya. The Russian girl was dressed in just the black bikini of the day before and she smiled her perfect white smile as Joey approached. As they stood alongside each other Natalya leant over to her and again, as she had the day before, brushed her lips against Joey"s. But this time Joey caught Natalya"s head in her hands and stopped her from pulling away again, locking the Russian"s lips in a much longer kiss, she explored the inside of her friend"s mouth with her tongue while their bodies pressed against each other.

Joey awoke with a start, hot and sweaty, and not just because of the continued heat outside. She was surprised to find her fingers inside her pussy, gently rubbing it as she had dreamt. And now she came to realise why Natalya"s kiss of the day before had so played on her mind. She realised that what she thought had been an experience of voyeurism over Luke the pool cleaner hadn"t been that at all, but rather she had been attracted to her glamorous Russian friend. For the first time Joey"s conscious mind began to realise that she was really attracted to Natalya. She"d never felt sexually aroused by a woman before, but there was something about the Russian girl that made Joey long to take her in her arms and kiss her as passionately as she had in her dream.

***

Joey got up early on Monday and, for the first time in a long while, decided to really make an effort with her appearance to impress her Russian guest. She decided to wear the expensive pink top Natalya had bought her, the one that clung to her curves to show off her breasts, Natalya had complimented how she looked in it, so Joey figured that this was the top that would best impress her. Rifling through her wardrobe Joey managed, with some effort, to find herself another impulse buy that she never wore, a knee length denim skirt. It had been some years since Joey had stopped wearing skirts and started wearing jeans instead, but she felt this would be the right thing to impress Natalya. She also decided, for once, to wear a small amount of make-up and shiny pink lip gloss. Admiring herself in the mirror, Joey was pleased with the feminisation that this outfit gave to her normal tomboy appearance. To top it all off she lightly sprayed some of the expensive perfume from the airport across her neck.

As Natalya came down for breakfast Joey flashed her a smile and was pleased to see Natalya smile back. Joey"s parents seemed to busy to notice the change in their daughter"s appearance, in a way that was probably quite fortunate, Joey didn"t know what they"d think if they knew the reason for it, but she was quite sure Natalya had noticed and wondered if she realised that it was all for her benefit. Finally, Joey thought, she would be able to have a minute to talk to Natalya alone as she drove the two of them to school.

Or so she thought. There was a ring of the doorbell as they were about to leave and Joey opened it to find Robbie standing on the doorstep. He"d obviously gone to a similar effort as she had with his appearance. The braces had been taken off his teeth and the thick glasses had been replaced with contacts, his black hair was properly washed and brushed and he even dressed better. Joey had to admit Robbie didn"t look too bad once he"d cleaned himself up a bit.

"I was just in the neighbourhood and wondered if you"d mind giving me a lift to school," he said.

Joey looked at him a little sceptically, her house was miles from anywhere, there was no neighbourhood. Still she couldn"t just abandon him, he was her friend after all, so she knew she had to give him a lift even if it prevented her from getting a moment alone with Natalya. Besides, she felt an odd bond with Robbie because of his desperation to make an impression on Natalya.

"You are both looking nice and dressed up today," Natalya said as she joined them in the car, making no further comment about Robbie"s sudden appearance at the Stiller house, "You two show me up very badly."

They both blushed at this, although it clearly wasn"t true. Natalya was dressed, as usual, with a stylish elegance far beyond Joey and Robbie.

At school, the first thing they saw when they entered the building was a loud argument between Greg and Claire which resulted in Claire storming off angrily. Natalya turned to Joey and smiled at her, obviously interpreting Joey"s effort with her appearance as a result of her desire for Greg.

"It seems your Greg has not such a great relationship after all," she said encouragingly.

During their lunch break that day, Joey finally managed to shake off Robbie and have a moment to speak alone with Natalya. All day she had struggled to concentrate in any of her classes as her eyes and her mind were constantly drawn back to the girl sitting next to her, Joey"s eyes were constantly drawn back to the perfect smooth lines of Natalya"s long pale legs and however hard she tried not to keep looking at her friend, she kept finding her eyes pulled back with an even greater attraction. So, finally, after a day of waiting, Joey had a chance to unload her feelings to Natalya.

"Can I talk to you a minute?" she said.

But as soon as those words left her lips she saw Greg approach and wave to her and knew again that she would be kept from having her talk with Natalya.

"Can I talk to you a minute, Joey?" Greg said as he came over, using the exact same words that Joey had used to Natalya moments earlier.

Without waiting for an answer Greg took her arm and drew Joey into a corner while Natalya stood back at a respectful distance. While Greg spoke to her Joey didn"t really listen, she kept looking back aross towards Natalya, the Russian girl continuing to hold her attention. She couldn"t concentrate on anything Greg said, but his gestures obviously showed it was something important:

"So, I was wondering if you"d like to go out with me this Thursday, to see a movie or something?"

Joey"s attention snapped back to Greg in an instant, he was asking her out, she"d waited all year fot this moment, she bit her lip nervously. She realised in an instant that she may have waited so long for this but suddenly it wasn"t what she wanted, she wanted Natalya, desperately, passionately wanted her, in a way she"d never wanted Greg. Joey glanced over to where Natalya was studiously examining her scarlet fingernails and trying to ignore Joey"s conversation with Greg.

"I"m sorry Greg," Joey replied finally, "I"d really love to, but I"m kind of seeing someone at the moment."

Greg"s face fell and for a moment Joey felt a pang of pity for him and felt about to reconsider her rejection until she looked back up at Natalya and realised that this was the way she wanted it.

Joey rejoined Natalya as her Russian friend was talking to Robbie, who"d found them again. Joey"s moment alone with Natalya was gone and she felt for a moment annoyed, at Robbie and Greg for spoiling her moment alone with Natalya and at Greg for making her feel guilty. Robbie spent the rest of the day with them and came back home with Joey and Natalya, hanging out with them for a couple of hours until Joey"s parents came home and then dashing off. It seemed fate was conspiring against Joey"s desire to be alone with Natalya. The frustration of it all only served to deepen Joey"s desire for the stylish Russian and her determination to win her over.

However, just when Joey thought fate really was conspiring against her and Natalya, Joey"s parents accepted a sudden dinner party invitation at Claire"s parents" house, telling the girls not to wait up and that they could be back quite late. Finally, Joey was given the opportunity she craved. And yet, as she and Natalya stood, alone and quiet, in the living room, hearing her dad"s Mercedes leaving the driveway, Joey"s mind went blank. She couldn"t think of any of the things she had been wanting to say to her Russian friend over the last couple of days.

"What is the matter, Joey?" Natalya asked, obviously noticing that Joey looked a little put out, "You have seemed a little concerned recently. You wanted to tell me something today before Greg appeared, I think. You have some reason for rejecting Greg and this is what is worrying you, right?"

Joey nodded, Natalya was right to a certain extent, she did have a reason for rejecting Greg and that was bothering her, but still she couldn"t work out what to say to her friend of the deeper feelings she was experiencing.

"It"s not just that," Joey began, stuttering as she tried to find words to express what she felt, "There"s something I wanted to talk to you about, something about me and you."

"Was it Joey?" Natalya said, smiling but looking a little concerned, "I hope I have done nothing to offend you."

Joey was standing in the centre of the room, looking at Natalya who stood directly in front of her, looking beyond her friend"s luxuriant long eyelashes and into her dark eyes. Joey smiled back, "No, no, nothing like that. In fact what I wanted to tell you was . . ."

Finding no words at all to express what she felt and what she needed to say, Joey paused for a moment, looking into those deep eyes, before she took Natalya"s head in her hands. Slowly, as in her dream, she bent towards Natalya, bringing the other girl"s head towards hers until their lips met, Joey savoured the feel of Natalya"s soft lips against hers as, to Joey"s joy Natalya"s lips opened to allow Joey"s tongue in and be caressed by Natalya"s own tongue. Joey ran her hands through her friend"s shiny, smooth, black hair as she felt Natalya"s hands across her shoulders, running down her back and over her spine. The other girl"s touch and the soft kiss sent an electric thrill running through Joey"s body as their breasts pressed together.

Finally they broke from their passionate embrace and Joey looked again into her friend"s eyes and saw a tenderness and affection that filled her with a warm glow of pleasure. There was a smile on Natalya"s beautiful red lips, none the less beautiful for the lipstick smeared across her cheek. Joey smiled back, aware of the smudging of her own lipstick.

"That"s what I wanted to tell you," Joey smiled as she leant over to press her lips against Natalya"s once more.

Breaking from the kiss once more, Natalya pulled her top over her head and let her skirt fall to the floor, exposing her full pale body to Joey, dressed just in stylish and sensual black lingerie. The sight of her friend"s gorgeous body in just the skimpy underwear sent Joey wild. She practically leapt on top of Natalya, kissing not just her beautiful soft lips, but planting kisses all over her long, swan-like neck as her hands fumbled at the clasp of Natalya"s bra, finally releasing it to let free her friend"s pert, erect breasts. Joey"s lips gradually moved down from Natalya"s neck, planting further kisses down towards her breasts which, although not huge, were perfectly formed like the rest of her body. Natalya pushed Joey"s head away from her chest, and Joey was disappointed for a moment until she saw Natalya"s fingers inside the elastic waistband of her panties, slowly sliding them down her long, silky smooth legs until she stood naked before Joey. Her dark, black pubic hair was shaved short into the shape of a heart. For Joey, a girl who had never felt desire for another woman before, it was achingly enticing.

Joey could almost feel herself drooling at the sight of her Russian friend"s perfect, pale body as she, almost violently in her lust for her friend, pushed Natalya to the floor and continued to explore with her lips every inch of the Russian"s gorgeous body, planting sensual kisses across Natalya"s firm, pert breasts, licking at the Russian girl"s nipples in a way that made Natalya groan with deep sensual pleasure. As Joey continued to explore her friend"s perfect body she felt a thrill of excitement she"d never known before in her life, a joy that she felt could never be equalled.

Her hands now ran across Natalya"s breasts as her lips languished leisurely over Natalya"s soft, smooth thighs, slowly working her way towards the hidden delights represented by Natalya"s pussy. Joey paused for a moment, looking at Natalya"s swollen pussy lips, she licked her lips as if to delay the moment of ecstasy just that little bit longer. Natalya looked down at her almost impatiently.

"Please Joey, I need you to relieve me,"

Smiling, Joey dived in, planting her lips against Natalya"s pussy, she kissed it gently, which caused another moan of pleasure in her Russian friend, who was now playing with her own firm breasts as Joey occupied herself with Natalya"s pussy. Joey began to lap with increased urgency at Natalya"s pussy beore finally sucking hard on her friend"s erect clitoris. Natalya"s pussy was already dripping wet with her juices that Joey savoured on her tongue, and soon the attention Joey was paying to her pussy caused her whole body to convulse as she ejaculated, squirting her juices into Joey"s mouth before collapsing, exhausted, on the floor.

Joey stood up and Natalya smiled up at her, getting up herself, her naked body looking even more perfect than before, her cunt still dripping with the products of her orgasm. Natalya leant over and kissed Joey on the lips, as they kissed Joey could feel Natalya"s hand straying inside her top. Joey stood back and pulled the top over her head and unclasped her simple white bra. Her breasts were larger than Natalya"s but neither so perfect nor so pert, Natalya still looked impressed as she knelt down and began to kiss Joey"s breasts and across her toned midriff while she reached to unzip Joey"s denim skirt, letting it fall to the floor. Joey knew her pussy was already soaking wet and crying out for relief from the experience so far so she quickly stripped out of her white panties. Her body shuddered with pleasure as she felt Natalya plant a kiss against her pussy.

Joey took Natalya by the shoulders and pushed her back onto the floor before mounting her, Joey"s tanned legs astride Natalya"s smooth white ones as she lay against her friend"s perfect body and kissed her again on the lips, her breasts pressing into Natalya"s. Joey felt between her legs and found Natalya"s pussy with her hand and inserted two fingers into it slowly as she kissed her again. Natalya"s face lit up with surprise and pleasure as she felt Joey insert her fingers into her cunt and Joey felt Natalya"s hand seek out her pussy and soon she felt the Russian girl"s fingers inside her as hers were inside Natalya. In time with each other, the two girls rubbed each other"s pussies while Joey continued to kiss Natalya"s beautiful face until, almost simultaneously, both girls felt their orgasms come on. Joey felt it was the greatest pleasure of her life thus far as her body tensed up for a moment, her pussy tightening around Natalya"s fingers, before she let go and her body convulsed with the thrill of her orgasm. Joey let out a scream of joy that surprised even her as both girls continued to cum for some minutes, finally collapsing in an exhausted heap of naked flesh. For the first time in ages Joey felt content and happy in the arms of this beautiful naked Russian girl.

***

The next week Joey would always remember as going by so quickly in the joy she continued to experience not only in her Russian friend"s company but also in her gorgeously perfect body. By now the news of her rejection of Greg Grant was all around the school and nobody could fail to notice Joey"s more feminine look and how she appeared to be floating on a cloud of happiness. This naturally led to some speculation that she was having some secret relationship, but nobody came close to the truth.

"It"s Robbie isn"t it?" Claire said one day, she wasn"t the first to suggest this as Robbie"s "new look" was as obviously apparent as Joey"s.

Joey looked at Natalya who was standing next to her and made eye contact, the two girls shared a secret smile that nobody else seemed to notice.

"Maybe," Joey"s green eyes sparkled, she thought it best to encourage this speculation about Robbie so nobody would suspect anything about Natalya, "Do you really think I"d tell you anyway, in five minutes it would be all over the school."

With that Claire left, fairly satisfied that she"d managed to get some admittance from Joey that she was having a secret relationship with Robbie Biaggi. Of course Robbie"s bewildered denials of something that, at least a week earlier he"d have been delighted to think of did nothing to discourage this opinion. Everybody knew that Robbie had a crush on Joey and that Joey had a new guy, it wasn"t difficult to work it out. Amidst all this speculation, Joey was able to carry on with her new relationship with Natalya, telling Robbie he should probably keep his distance at school to get rid of the rumours about the two of them.

All week, Joey sneaked moments alone with Natalya whenever she could. This was almost as difficult now as it had been a couple of days earlier, Joey"s parents going out on Monday evening was a one off event and for the rest of the week they insisted on spending evenings at home and having meals together. As a result of this, and Robbie"s continued insistence on riding to and from school with them, Joey"s relationship over that week she was so happy was based on stolen glances, her hand on Natalya"s smooth thigh beneath the desk while nobody was watching, the quick kiss in a hidden space behind the lockers when they managed to dodge the others for a while.

On Friday she and Natalya cut class for the last lesson of the day, quite a rare occassion for the studious and hard working Joey, but she desperately needed more time with Natalya before she left the following day. Giggling like little girls, Joey took Natalya"s hand and led her into the toilets and into the farthest stall from the door. Joey pushed the door shut and slid the lock into place as she pushed Natalya back against the door and wrapped her arms around her friend, placing a passionate kiss on Natalya"s lips that she had been desperately waiting to give all week. Natalya, pressed against the door of the toilet stall, smiled back at Joey and Joey pulled Natalya"s dark red top over her head. Joey was just unclasping Natalya"s black lace bra when they heard the door open to the toilets and the footsteps of two girls coming in. Joey and Natalya pressed back against the back wall, holding their breath and hoping not to be discovered. In the moment of tension Joey could feel her arms tightly, and protectively, clasped around Natalya, pressing the Russian girl against her body as close as she could.

"Why are we cutting class, you know we could get in trouble for this," it was Katharine Taylor"s quiet, faraway voice.

"Joey Stiller"s cutting too, I saw her and her Russian going the other way from their English class," came Claire Lancaster"s loud reply, Joey let out a little gasp to know Claire was looking for her and Natalya put a finger to her lips to tell Joey to keep quiet, "Now"s our chance to find out about her mystery new boyfriend, don"t you want to know that, it could be Chris."

Finally, after what seemed like an age pressed against the wall, and each other, Joey and Natalya heard Claire and Katharine leave to look for them. After a couple of minutes of silence, Joey relaxed and let out a loud sigh of relief at avoiding being discovered. Releasing Natalya from her tight embrace, Joey sat herself down on the toilet. Natalya, her jet black hair a little dishevelled from being pressed so close to Joey, got down on her knees, her pert breasts now freed from her bra.

Joey unzipped her skirt and pulled it and her panties down to reveal to Natalya her pussy and a bush of brown pubic hair into which Natalya buried her face while Joey spread her legs wide to let her in. This moment was nothing like as intimate or romantic as it had been on Monday, the tiny, dirty toilet cubicle was hardly the most romantic setting for it. Nevertheless Joey felt again the electric thrill of pleasure run through her whole body as Natalya"s soft and gentle lips brushed across her pussy. Joey tried to cry out quieter than before as her orgasm shook through her body so as not to attract any attention, however, as the moment of ecstasy hit her, she couldn"t hold back and her whole being seemed shook up by the intense pleasure of it.

Joey quickly pulled her panties and skirt back on while Natalya re-confined her breasts to her bra and top and the two girls cautiously left the stall to check on their appearance in the toilet"s mirrors. Quickly re-applying smudged lipstick and brushing dishevelled hair, the girls crept from the toilets, not wishing to draw attention to themselves, so they could avoid Claire and Katharine and so there was no speculation about what they"d been doing together. They successfully managed to slip out of school unnoticed and a few minutes later, when Claire and Katharine found them, they were lying on the grass in the park by the river, soaking up the continued unseasonal sun and warmth.

***

Joey was not surprised the next morning when Robbie arrived to accompany her and Natalya to San Diego airport to see Natalya off. Joey felt a momentary annoyance that she would not be able to enjoy the two hour journey with just Natalya, however she realised that she couldn"t exactly do a lot while driving. Besides, Joey thought, if circumstances had been different and Robbie had been the one who had won Natalya"s affections and she"d been the one quietly pining after her then she"d want one last chance to say goodbye.

The unseasonal heat wave that had existed over the past two weeks ended as abruptly as it had begun that morning. The weather was now far more appropriate for October. It was not too cold, the sky was still bright although mostly grey rather than the brilliant blue of the day before, yet there was a chilling breeze. Both Robbie and Joey were dressed in jeans and sweatshirts as they helped load Natalya"s snakeskin suitcases into the trunk of Joey"s Ford. Natalya too was dressed with less bare skin than the weeks before, her sunglasses were no longer perched on her head, she was dressed in black leather pants and a dark red top with a black leather jacket that she wrapped around herself to ward off the breeze as she emerged from the house having said goodbye to Joey"s parents.

The drive went by far quicker with Natalya and Robbie"s company than it had two weeks earlier when Joey had nervously driven out to San Diego airport to pick up the strange new Russian exchange student who would be staying in her house for two weeks. Inside the car with the windows up and wrapped up warmer, they could still feel as if the heat wave continued and they kept each other amused with chat, jokes and laughter, although inside Joey felt sorry that this would be the last time she would share a joke with Natalya. As they left River Falls, past the park by the river where there were no longer any guys throwing a football or a frisbee, Joey could sense in her friend a feeling of regret at leaving this little Californian town.

At the airport there was little to do except sit around waiting for the departure of the flight to St. Petersburg to be announced. Joey and Natalya and Robbie went around a couple of the airport shops but Joey could feel her heart wasn"t really into shopping and for once it couldn"t lift her spirits. It felt odd and wrong to Joey that her week of such fun and happiness should be ending on a note of such emptiness, but that was how she felt as she stood beside Natalya while Robbie walked off to check the departures board. They heard Natalya"s flight announced and the Russian girl turned to go.

There was no sign of Robbie at that moment and so Natalya placed a hand on Joey"s arm, leant over and planted a soft kiss on Joey"s lips. It reminded Joey of the kiss that they"d shared a week earlier, staring out at the pool in the sun, their lips connected and Natalya"s tongue brushed against Joey"s for a moment as their bodies and breasts pressed together. For a moment Joey could feel herself and Natalya joined, united forever in their kiss. Natalya turned and broke the spell, she waved and walked off towards her flight gate out of Joey"s life without turning back. For a week they had shared an exquisite and secret pleasure, and now Joey felt a part of herself had departed on that flight to St. Petersburg.

She fought back a tear she could feel growing in her eye and turned to see Robbie at her elbow. He too looked a little distressed, but Joey knew he couldn"t truly comprehend how she felt at that moment. Still, as he took her by the arm and smiled re-assuringly at her, Joey felt comforted by his presence as they walked back to her car, she was grateful for him coming with them now, she didn"t want to face the journey back alone.

"Come on," she smiled at Robbie as he smiled back, "Let"s go home. . ."